Hikarustory: The Adriatic Summer
by ice73
Summary: Set after Shin KOR III, the Orange Road trio visits an old Ayukawa family friend. Danger stalks Kyousuke and Madoka. Hikaru finally learns her Darling's secret. My first fan fiction. Rated R for some adult situations and violence. [Final]
1. An Old Friend

**Disclaimer:** Shin Kimagure Orange Road characters ©Matsumoto Izumi/ Shueisha. This work is not intended for commercial gain or challenge the status of these copyrights.

**Author's Note:** Set after Shin KOR III, the Orange Road trio visits an old Ayukawa family friend. Danger stalks Kyousuke and Madoka. Hikaru finally learns her Darling's secret. My first fan fiction. Rated R for some adult situations and violence. All the credit must go to Matsumoto-sensei for creating KOR in the first place. All the errors, however, are mine.

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**HIKARUSTORY: THE ADRIATIC SUMMER**

**AN OLD FRIEND**

Kyousuke Kasuga watched the boarding tube hove into view as the B747 inched forward towards the terminal. Outside the sun was already bright and hot, and he could see heat waves rising from the concrete of Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

He turned to the person sitting beside him. "Well, we're here, Madoka," he said.

Madoka Ayukawa, dressed in a red blazer and white skirt, cool emerald eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, sighed. "Finally." Kyousuke looked at her. "I was starting to get cabin fever," she explained.

They deplaned and were met by a stiff-mannered man wearing a business suit. His thinning gray hair betrayed his advancing years, but his eyes were a steel blue—no hint of age there. He introduced himself as Cardiff, and told them he had been sent by Mr. Andrei Pagott to bring them to their destination. After retrieving their luggage, they found a long black limousine waiting, along with a sour-looking bodyguard who opened the doors for them but stayed aloof.

"This Mr. Pagott must be rich," Kyousuke said.

"Very," Madoka affirmed. She had taken her shades off and was looking outside the window.

The stretch limo brought them to another part of the airport, where they were transferred to a small business jet whose polished bare metal skin shone like a mirror under the bright noonday sun.

"And a jet too," Kyousuke commented when they were seated and the plane was beginning to taxi.

They began to prepare for another long plane ride. "How'd your parents meet this guy again?" he asked Madoka.

"It's a long story. Back during the 60s," she began, "my father and mother were returning home from a concert in France when the plane they were riding on was forced to land in Nigeria due to engine problems. They had just transferred to a smaller plane to catch another flight elsewhere when it was hijacked by rebels from a country named Biafra. There was a civil war going on, you see, and the Biafrans wanted to secede from Nigeria. The leader of the hijackers was a mercenary named Andrei Pagott. Papa pleaded with him to let them go, as Mama was very pregnant and could give birth to me anytime soon. At first it seemed he wasn't going to free them, but the next day he took them out of the country in a small plane. Then he left them and went back to the war. The day after they arrived in Japan Mama gave birth to me."

Kyousuke whistled. "So he saved their… no, your lives."

"Yes."

Kyousuke reflected for a moment on what Madoka had told him. "And they're there already."

"Yes, at the Hotel Adriano."

"How bad is the old man doing?"

"The letter didn't say."

"I'm surprised you agreed to come," Kyousuke commented.

"Papa said it was very important. Besides, it'll be nice to take a vacation, even if it's only a short one."

Kyousuke nodded. "It was kind of your parents to allow me along."

"Hey, why shouldn't they? We're engaged, after all."

"Yeah." he said, smiling. "I can still hardly believe it." He took Madoka's hand in his own and gave it a squeeze.

"Better believe it, Kasuga-kun," Madoka said, loving his gentle smile. She smiled back. Despite her tiredness, she felt happy. "You'd better believe it."

------oOo------

The jet landed at a private airfield and, after a trip through town on another limo, deposited them at a port. From there they took a small boat to the Hotel Adriano, which, as it turned out, was located on an island in the middle of a bay. Dominated it was more correct; the three-story building virtually occupied its entirety, gleaming dusky white in the sun.

The boat stopped and tied up at a jetty at the foot of a low, artificial concrete cliff. A uniformed porter came along and took their luggage, with a message in halting English that Mr. Pagott was waiting for his guests at the top of the stairs.

Madoka stretched and looked skyward. "What a beautiful place!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is," Kyousuke agreed. The sky was clear and blue, so brilliant it almost hurt to look at it; the water was a sparkling aquamarine, with white crests here and there as it lapped along the shore; and the distant mainland shone an emerald-like green as it sat atop the sea. "But even more beautiful is the girl I'm standing next to." There was a click and Madoka turned to see him aiming his camera at her.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, dear," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

Kyousuke grinned, then gestured. "I guess he means those stairs." A flight stretched from the boat landing and disappeared among the many folds of rock, leading upward. They started in that direction.

Madoka began climbing the dark gray steps. _One, two, three…_ She caught herself and chuckled softly. _Goodness,_ she thought, _was I really doing that? Even here? Kyousuke would laugh if he ever found out…_ At the top of the stairs was a pair of tall wooden doors which lay open. And just beyond that…

"Papa!"

"My girl!"

They were met by Madoka's mother and father. Madoka dropped her bags and gave them a big hug.

"How are you?" Mrs. Ayukawa asked.

"Fine. A bit tired, though."

The tall, statuesque woman with fine-boned features and a curiously sensual gaze turned to Kyousuke. "And you?"

Kyousuke bowed. "I'm fine, ma'am."

"It's been so long since we saw each other last," said Mr. Ayukawa to his younger daughter. "I hope Kyousuke's been treating you well?"

"Oh, Papa, of course he has."

Kyousuke laughed. "You know, sir, Madoka'd let me know instantly if I was doing anything she didn't like."

Mr. Ayukawa chuckled. "Really?" Madoka's eyes flashed emerald at Kyousuke. "Well, come on, dump your things in your rooms." He gestured for a porter to come and take Madoka's and Kyousuke's luggage.

"Where's Mr. Pagott?" asked Kyousuke. "We were told he'd be waiting here."

A shadow passed momentarily over the world-famous composer and conductor's face. "He's having a hard time breathing, so he retired to his room. You can meet him later."

The young porter took the couple's luggage and escorted them to their rooms on the hotel's second floor.

"What an old-fashioned place this is," Kyousuke remarked, noting the décor and furniture, remnants of a happier, more serene time.

"Yeah," agreed Madoka. "It's more like a big house than a hotel per se. Although it seems much bigger than before."

"You've been here?"

"When I was very small. It was one of the rare times Papa brought me with him on an overseas trip. After that…" She fell silent, obviously not wanting to dwell on the period in her life when she was alone most of the time.

"It's too bad your sister couldn't come," said Kyousuke, wanting to lure her away from her train of thought.

She nodded. "What with her licensure renewal coming up and her baby girl being sick… She did write a letter for Mr. Pagott, I think."

"Is Mr. Pagott that close a family friend?"

The girl with the jet-black hair shook her head. "Only for Mama and Papa. We used to receive cards from him on holidays, however. They stopped when he got sick."

After resting a bit, they changed, Madoka into a red long-sleeved shirt with yellow and white flower prints and light gray slacks, while Kyousuke opted for a short-sleeved plaid shirt and his usual black pants. Back downstairs, they spent some time in conversation with Madoka's parents in the hotel's backyard garden. It was filled to overflowing with many blooms, and a riot of color and profusion of smells pervaded their senses. To Kyousuke, Madoka's blouse seemed rather appropriate.

"This place is beautiful," said Kyousuke. "I should have brought my camera."

"Dear, you can do that later."

"Alright, but you're going to have to come with me. I want to take a picture of you against a backdrop of flowers. Truth is… they don't seem complete without you."

Madoka blushed and her parents smiled.

"Pardon me," came a voice. They turned to see Cardiff standing there in his butler's uniform. "Would it be possible for you to come see Mr. Pagott in his room?"

"Sure," answered Mr. Ayukawa. "Madoka?"

"Okay."

The four were escorted through the garden to the other end of the hotel, where a single large suite on the ground floor, doors opening directly to the outside, served as Andrei Pagott's living quarters. The butler gave three loud knocks and opened the door.

"Sir," he announced, "Mr. Ayukawa and his family are here."

As Madoka stepped into the room, she saw a large bed on the other side. In the bed, propped against the pillows, was an old man with a crown of snow-white hair, wearing a light blue polo shirt and having a cannula stuck in his long, aquiline nose. The cannula was connected to an oxygen tank at his bedside. A chair beside the tank held an overcoat and a discarded red tie. His craggy, careworn features held a look of anticipation. As she neared the bed, Madoka saw the milky-white orbs of his eyes.

"Hello, Andrei," greeted Mr. Ayukawa.

"Sorry about this," the old man said, his voice raspy. "Don't worry, it only happens rarely to me."

"It's okay." Cardiff brought chairs up for the four of them. They sat.

Madoka's father proceeded to introduce them. She shook his hand, noted the dry, firm grip. He said, "It's been so long, Madoka. You were but—what—six years old when you first came here?"

"Yes, Uncle."

"Too bad I'm not as chipper as I used to be then, eh?"

"Uncle…"

"Would you mind if I ran my hands along your face? I have to use them as my eyes, you see." She agreed, leaning closer to him.

She felt a feather-light touch along her cheek as he ran his hands about on her face. He stroked her hair, and then stopped and smiled.

"You have lovely skin. You must have grown up a very beautiful woman. I wish I could see."

"Oh, she has, sir," piped up a voice.

Withdrawing his hands, Andrei smiled and looked sightlessly in the direction of the sound. "And you must be her fiancé."

"Kyousuke Kasuga. Glad to meet you sir." He shook the old man's hand vigorously.

"Are you indeed?" Andrei asked, an ironic tone in his voice. Kyousuke's answer was all earnestness.

"Of course, sir. If it wasn't for you saving her parents, I wouldn't have a Madoka to marry… or to love"—the owner of the name blushed for the second time in ten minutes—"in the first place."

"My, my," she said, "you're getting unusually forward today, Kyousuke."

"It's the truth."

"Why?" interjected Andrei. "Isn't he usually like this?"

Madoka shook her head, forgetting that Andrei was blind. "No, Uncle."

"My boy, that won't do!" The old man shook his head. "You are going to be her husband. Do like us Italians do. Every chance we get, we tell a woman how beautiful she is and how much we love her! Or else she might find someone else to do so!"

It was Kyousuke's turn to color somewhat. "Point well taken, sir," he replied, looking directly at Ayukawa. She was nodding, eyes big in a comical fashion, miming "Tsktsktsk! Shame on you, Kyousuke." He couldn't resist sticking his tongue out at her.

"I still remember when you came here," Mr. Pagott told Madoka. "I could still see then. You were like a little angel."

Kyousuke had a momentary vision of a very young Madoka sprouting wings and running around the hotel at top speed.

"I want your stay here to be pleasant," Mr. Pagott was saying, "so if there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to tell the staff."

"This place," Madoka commented, "has become bigger than I remember."

"Well, we added two floors, plus made the island larger. Money talks." He chuckled. "I wonder what my mother would say if she saw it now." For the benefit of the younger couple he added, "It used to be a café and a hangout of air pirates."

"Air pirates?"

"Yes, you know, pirates. They preyed on the shipping and airlines around here and flew planes instead of sailing ships. Then my father took over and had this place converted to the hotel."

"What happened to them?"

"Oh, they died out eventually. It became more difficult for them because of increased coast guard patrols and some turned over a new leaf. In fact, some of the staff here are the descendants of those very pirates." He smiled at the memories. "It was a time when bad guys could still become good guys. Not like today."

Cardiff the butler stepped forward into the little group. "Pardon, sir. A phone call for you."

"Tell them I'm busy," Andrei instructed him, scowling. Atlas being irritated by a fly while carrying the Earth on his back could have looked like he did then.

"It will not wait, I'm afraid, sir. One of your business associates."

"Oh, all right. Help me up," Andrei said as he sat up, removing the cannula from his nose. They group moved aside to make room for Cardiff and the wheelchair he had produced from a walk-in closet near the bed. "Excuse me please. This won't take long." Guided by his butler, the old man stood with a grunt and stepped over to the wheelchair, then sat down and was wheeled to an adjoining room.

They waited for a few minutes for Mr. Pagott to finish the call. In the interval they could hear snatches of his angry voice being raised. When he returned he looked decidedly peeved. A pair of veins stood out on his forehead, forming a V towards his eyes.

"I… I have just received news… of a disaster at one of my factories." He massaged his temples with a hand. "I am afraid we must cut this short, Seiji. I have to leave at once."

"Be careful," said Mr. Ayukawa, "old friend."

"Andrei-san," Mrs. Ayukawa added. "Keep your cool. You're not doing anything except stressing yourself by fuming like that."

The old man took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Thank you, Yoshiko-san. You are right, as usual." He shook his head. "It's a crazy world when a sick man like me still has to get out and fix a problem like this."

"Why don't you delegate it then?"

"Ah. I do have people to do my work for me, but in a situation like this… well, it's just better that I do this. Less headaches afterwards."

After the group had left Andrei in his room, Mr. Ayukawa commented, "He was always like this, running around like he was in a race or something."

"He must have been one intense man," said Kyousuke.

"True," agreed Madoka's mother. "Too true." There was a wistful yet sad look in her eyes as she said this.

"Yoshiko?" There was a questioning look in Mr. Ayukawa's eyes.

"It's nothing, dear. You know that." She gestured towards the other pair. "There are things these two still don't know," she added in a low voice.

Mr. Ayukawa looked thoughtfully at his wife. "Well," he said to Kyousuke and Madoka, "We're going to take the boat back to the mainland, buy a few necessities in the city, do a little sightseeing. Do you want to come?"

Madoka shook her head. "No thanks, Papa. I'd like to rest, if that's okay." She inclined her head towards Kyousuke.

" Me? I think I'll pass. My backside's still aching from all the sitting."

"Okay, then. We'll see you later." The younger couple bowed. Madoka's parents entered the large dining room which dominated the ground floor and headed for the small elevator at the far end.

She tugged at Kyousuke's arm. "Let's go back to the garden, dear. I find it restful there." He nodded. "Sure."

While Kyousuke was content to sit his aching backside on a quaint little green bench, Madoka went exploring. In a far corner she found a white gate in an ivy-covered wall beyond a section filled with roses.

_I wonder what's in there,_ she thought. She walked over and, opening the door, found a small, walled-off portion with more plants and a white gazebo beside a low wall. A small tree stretched its branches over the gazebo, shading it from the Adriatic sun.

"There you are," came a voice behind her. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to." Kyousuke stood beside Madoka and put an arm around her waist.

"Let's sit over there," said Madoka, gesturing to the small structure.

They found the gazebo clean and strangely free of dust. The low wall provided them a magnificent view of the Adriatic Sea. The sea breeze fanned their bodies as they gazed out at the sparkling water.

"Umm, it's beautiful," Madoka said. She was standing by the low stone wall, leaning forward, elbows propped, head in her hands.

Kyousuke nodded. "Yes it is." Looking at his soon-to-be wife, he found her expression distant. She seemed to be looking out to sea, but he could see her gaze was focused inward. Her long black hair fluttered in the gusty breeze.

Kyousuke found himself gazing at her. _She's so beautiful it makes my heart ache just to watch her,_ he thought to himself. _I'm the luckiest man on earth, to have her with me._

"And for that," he murmured, "I am thankful for this continuum."

Madoka became aware of him standing beside her. "Eh? You were saying something?"

In response Kyousuke moved behind her and enfolded her in his arms. Madoka, closing her eyes in happiness, took his hands in hers and pressed his arms tighter against her.

"Beloved…" she heard him whisper. Something soft and moist brushed the side of her neck. She turned her head and felt his lips meet hers. The sweetness of his gentle kiss was almost too much for her to bear; her insides surged with a thrill that made her feel her heart was about to burst.

"I think I'm the happiest woman on earth," Madoka declared when their lips parted, her voice husky, her cheeks pink.

"I was just thinking I was the luckiest guy alive," Kyousuke told her, "so I'm just returning the favor."

They fell silent. Brown eyes met green ones, both alight and sparkling, yet deep and full of longing for each other. Their lips met again.

After a minute or two Madoka broke off the kiss. "You're cheating."

"What?" Kyousuke asked, caught off-guard.

"You're using your Power to make me feel so good."

"Of course I'm not! I couldn't kiss you… and use the Power at the same time without you knowing it. It would also ruin my enjoyment." Annoyance passed over Kyousuke's features. "Madoka, that's a cruel thing to say. I'm hurt that you'd even suggest I need the Power to be a good kisser."

The black-haired girl stifled a giggle, then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. The look on your face…" Kyousuke started to disentangle himself, but Madoka held him fast. "I'm just kidding, Kyousuke! I believe you. I think I'd know if you were using the Power." Kyousuke stopped trying to break free. "You always have that straining expression when you use it…"

"For your information, I don't need the Power to do this…" He turned her head to face him and kissed her. However, in the middle of the kiss she suddenly stiffened, banging her backside into a part of Kyousuke's anatomy that, unfortunately, was rather sensitive at the moment.

"Ow! What's the matter?"

Madoka appeared flushed. "For a moment there it felt like someone was touching my…" her gaze trailed down to her chest.

A slow, evil grin appeared on Kyousuke's face. "See? I told you you'd know if I was using my Power on you…"

"Wha—? You horrible man!" Then she laughed.

"I promise you won't find me doing that again, dear." Kyousuke put her hand on his heart. "After all those escapades when we were growing up…" He kissed her. "I love you too much to do that to you anymore."

"Oh, Kyou-chan." Madoka settled herself against him. "Thank you. I've forgotten how difficult things are for you sometimes, as a Chou-No-Ryoku-Sha."

They reluctantly broke their embrace so they could sit down. Enjoying the gazebo's shade, Kyousuke put an arm around Madoka's waist and pulled her to him. She nestled against his chest, looking out to sea. Her hair draped across his front in a spray of glossy black.

She felt the beating of Kyousuke's heart. "This," she declared, sighing, "is heavenly."

The eldest son of the Kasugas remained silent, absently stroking his beloved's hair, running his hands through it and twining the ends in his fingers. Gradually he started to massage her shoulders and arms, her upper back and temples.

Madoka closed her eyes. "Mmm… that's nice. Please continue."

Kyousuke continued his ministrations for a long while, feeling Madoka's chest rise and fall against his, listening as she breathed, smelling her scent mingled with that of the garden flowers. His eyes greedily traced every outline, every curve and every idea of her—the long, raven hair; the soft lips; the closed eyes with their delicate lashes; the gentle swell of her chest; the long, lithe legs; her creamy skin—and he felt himself grow bolder. Reaching down, he cupped her breasts with his hands. Mewling prettily, she adjusted herself against his grasp. She lazily turned her face and raised a hand to lower his head to hers. A moment later, they were once more liplocked.

A few minutes later Madoka suddenly removed her lips from her fiancé's. "Ah, Kyou-chan," she moaned, nuzzling his neck, "is it suddenly getting warm here or what…"

Encouraged, Kyousuke intensified his amorous assault on her, planting kisses on her lips, her face, her neck, and on the upper part of her chest…

"Ah… Kyou-chan… please stop… cause if we continue we'll be forced to go upstairs… ah…" The warm, tingly sensation, sweet and lovely, was spreading over her again, making her feel light-headed and weak-kneed. She grabbed his head in her hands and turned it to face her. There was a glassy look in his eyes that spelled out his ardent desire for her.

"Please, Kyou-chan." The words came tumbling out of Madoka's mouth. "It's not like I don't want it, it's just that I don't want it right now… ah… later, please? I just want to stay here for a while. I'm so tired I don't think I can make love to you satisfactorily. I swear I'll make it up to you later…" she pleaded.

Kasuga, being a guy, naturally had a harder time reining in his urges, but being the gentleman he was, pulled himself together. "If you say so, love." She smiled in gratitude and closed her eyes again while he, still hyper-aware of her nearness, desperately tried to curb his lust by thinking of unsexy things like telephone bills, his sisters Kurumi and Manami in full feeding frenzy, and his perverted friends (or was it fiends?) Komatsu and Hatta in bathtubs…

Had anyone dropped by afterwards, they would have found the two still in the gazebo, Madoka still leaning against Kyousuke, both lulled to sleep by the song of the waves, the balmy sea breeze, and the warm, heady perfume that permeated the little walled-off part of the garden.

------oOo------

That night, after dinner with Madoka's parents, the couple strolled along the narrow man-made beach that ringed the northwestern edge of the island. Kyousuke carried a torch to light their way, but it was unneeded; there was more than enough light—provided by a full moon—to go about their business. They were gazing at the city on the mainland, its various lights glimmering in the dark, as if to match the stars in the heavens above.

"Your mother was amazing," Kyousuke was saying as they walked, the gravel crunching underfoot, the water lapping at their feet. "I didn't know she could sing as well as play the violin." After dinner, at Andrei Pagott's request, Madoka's mom had made an impromptu performance, with her husband playing the piano, on the large dining room's corner stage.

"That surprised me too," admitted Madoka. She recalled her mother on the stage, a slim, pale figure under the moody yellow lights. "She was forever complaining about her voice being more suited to the bedroom than the concert hall."

"That last song she sung, what was it?"

"I don't know, I don't speak French." She tweaked his nose.

"It seemed to have moved Mr. Pagott a great deal." When they had climbed up the stairs to the hotel owner's private office, which was built above the dining room and overlooked the stage, they had found him sitting in his wheelchair with the tracks of tears on his face. He had smiled forlornly, an old man looking lost and alone amidst all his material wealth. "It reminds me of my mother."

Kyousuke looked at Madoka. "Well, if I'm going to be part of this family I guess I should learn to play an instrument." He sighed. "But what I know about music wouldn't fill a teaspoon!"

"But you _can_ play," she said, reminding him of their short-lived Pikkaru band.

"Not as good as you can. I don't want to look like an ass in front of your mother and father. I mean, the drums? Come on."

"Don't sell yourself short," Madoka admonished him. "It isn't easy to find someone who can carry a consistent rhythm on the drums from a song's start to finish."

"I just wonder, how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"You know, compose a song, play the piano, that stuff."

"My dear, it's easy." Emphasizing her point, she sang a verse from a well-known pop song back in Japan:

It's in the heart, my heart, my heart!

"And that's all there is to it. If you love something enough you pour your heart and soul into it." Just like she had when she was writing her songs for him—but she wasn't about to tell him that. She recalled how mortified she had been during a performance of her cousin Shuu's band Swingtop—she had been playing on stage when his girlfriend Yukari had wrapped a red string around her and tossed the other end to Kyousuke, who was standing in the wings. She thought her feelings must have been written on her face then like seventy-two-point headlines in a newspaper. It was pure luck her guitar playing had not faltered under the deluge of embarrassment that had swept over her.

Kyousuke himself thought about all he had gone through before winning Madoka's love. "Yeah, you're right," he mumbled. "Oh well, if all else fails, I can always be your stage act." His face scrunched up. Suddenly a lot of tiny points of multicolored light appeared around Madoka's feet. They slowly rose into the air and formed a vertical circle in front of her. Then they began spinning.

She clapped her hands in delight. "Oh, pretty!"

------oOo------

Offshore, deep in the bowels of a converted fishing boat, two men were sitting before a high-tech instrument panel, busy studying its many displays.

"See, I told you, there it is," said one, a short, pudgy man wearing a set of headphones and a dark blue cap embroidered with the label "BR-97" in front. "Lots of kionic and pro-tachyonic activity on that island."

The other man, a thin, gaunt figure with deep, hollowed cheeks and the dead-fish stare of a killer, nodded at him. "Continue monitoring that," he instructed in a flat voice, "and keep me posted. I will contact our man ashore." But even as he made to leave, his companion announced, "It's gone, sir."

He contemplated the now-dark screens. "Very well." As he left the room, he thought, _It seems there _is_ a telekinetic on that island. _He would ask their agent to investigate further.

------oOo------

"Whew!" Kyousuke exclaimed.

"Hey, why'd you stop?"

"I don't want to tire myself out for what you promised later," he explained, leering at her. "Besides, heating stones so they glow isn't easy. If I weren't careful some could have exploded and hurt you."

"I should have known you were thinking about that. Hmph. Lecher. I should have known you had sex on your mind." She crossed her arms in front of her.

"So do all the men in the world," he protested, "every ten seconds. I'm not that different from the rest of humanity."

She extended a hand to him. "Come on."

"What? Where are we going?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She arched an eyebrow. "Back to our rooms."

"Now? Why?"

"We still have to walk back to the hotel," Madoka explained, lowering her voice into a contralto. "I wouldn't want you to get tired before what I promised earlier."

------oOo------

Through love-making, Kyousuke had realized long ago, Madoka had learned to express her innermost emotions, her every reaction to the outside world. Normally aloof and taciturn, the tough girl with few friends at Kouryou Gakuen was still a living, breathing human being, and all she felt inside—as a teen growing up practically by herself, and especially as her relationship with Kyousuke blossomed—she had channeled into her love for music, and, before she met Kyousuke, into her excellent fighting skills. When she had first made love with him, she had unconsciously found another outlet for them: sometimes their lovemaking was sweet, slow and gentle, sometimes frenzied and rough; more often than not it led them down the path to sweet slumber; other times, it curiously left them more energized than before. On occasion it seemed furtive and secretive. Once, at his instigation, they had even recklessly done it outdoors. Then there were the times it resembled an elegy, full of sadness and grief. More than once Kyousuke had seen great big tears trickle down the sides of her face as he made love to her. The first time he had been startled and very concerned; it took a gentle rap on the side of the head for her assurance that she was alright, smiling even as the tears flowed, to penetrate his thick skull.

"Silly love," she had whispered, pulling him down to her. "Just keep doing what you do best."

Kyousuke had asked her why she cried, but she never gave him a clear answer. When he pressed her, she would either change the subject, refuse to acknowledge the question, or simply stare him down, curtly intimating that it was a private matter and that he had no right to force an answer from her. Though they had known each other for a long time, he still found her ways puzzling and mysterious.

But this night was, fortunately, nothing like that. Bathed in the light of the bright full moon streaming in from the window, they had made delicious, unhurried love to each other several times, surmounting peak after glorious peak until they at last lay entwined on the bed in Madoka's room, exhausted, their bodies slick with sweat.

"That was great," she groaned. "I'm totally shot."

"That's just fine," Kyousuke answered, panting. "I don't have anything left to give."

"Oh. I think I'll be sore in the morning. Not that I'm complaining." She leaned over and gave Kyousuke a peck on his wet cheek. "Your technique just seems to get better as time goes on." She idly traced the cicatrice of the scar on his abdomen, a relic of a car accident that had once thrown him forward in time.

"Well, you gave me the idea," Kyousuke smirked. "So if you don't like it, you have only yourself to blame."

"Really? Then I must congratulate myself for being so clever. It felt really wonderful…" She blushed in the darkness as she recalled exactly what he did.

Kyousuke paused to admire her body. She boldly turned on her side to display it better. "Darling," he said, "you look so good that if you were a pastry I'd have eaten you up long since."

"Haven't you just done exactly that a while ago?" she asked him with a straight face.

"Wow… I love it when you talk dirty." Sometimes he couldn't bring himself to believe he was having such an interchange with her, when before he could hardly make a comment without worrying she'd take it the wrong way and bite his head off.

Grabbing a towel that had been tossed to the floor because of their exertions, she proceeded to wipe the sweat off his body. "Hmm… garbage… manure…"

"Ha ha ha," said Kyousuke, grimacing. "Thanks a lot, Princess." Madoka laughed, smothering him playfully with the towel.

They stayed together for three hours, feeding each other cheese and fruits that she had previously requested from room service, before getting up and showering. Much as he wanted to, Kyousuke gallantly refrained from seducing her in the bathroom, since he knew she was probably as tired as he was. As if she were aware of this, she gave him a pointed comment as they emerged from the shower.

"Why dear, you've gone shy all of a sudden."

Kyousuke laughed, embarassed. "You noticed, huh? To tell you the truth, angel, I don't think I could survive another round with you tonight."

After they finished dressing, he gave Madoka a final kiss. "I _really_ hate sleeping alone," he told her and walked out the door and back to his room.

After he had left, Madoka lay back on her bed, stretching herself like a contented cat and sighing happily. _Wasn't this night just perfect?_ she asked herself.

There was a sound outside, and a shadow appeared in the thin line of light streaming in from under the door. Madoka waited for the door to open, thinking it was Kyousuke. When it didn't, she got up and went to open it, puzzled.

A tall, fair man with blond hair and in garish attire that shouted "I'm a tourist!" was standing in the middle of the corridor, holding what appeared to be a PDA or cell phone. When she opened the door, he seemed to start, putting the device in his jacket pocket.

"May I help you?" Madoka asked.

"Oh, terribly sorry," said the man. His voice sounded decidedly British. "I must have the wrong room. Sorry to bother you." He nodded apologetically and began to walk away, towards the stairs.

_What was that all about?_ she wondered. Shrugging, she closed the door and went back to bed.

------oOo------

The moment the Japanese girl had closed the door of her room the man brought his device back out. He had been caught off-guard by her sudden appearance and castigated himself for it. Wary of being overheard, he walked to the last room before the little foyer at the top of the stairs, before depressing a button on its side and making his report.

"Control, Horsham here, there's a girl in the room, appears Oriental. I'm going to check the registry…"

Preoccupied, he never saw the door of the last room open and the shadow in black clothes emerge from it.

------oOo------

Arturo, the head cook's sixteen-year-old son, went up to the second floor to retrieve a guest's dinner tray. After picking it up, he made a detour to the first room to the right of the stairs. Opening the door, he called into the darkness, "Everything okay?"

"Yes," a low voice hissed. "Tell them we have one to transport to HQ."

"Okay." The boy closed the door and rubbed his unruly brown hair. He smiled. This cloak-and-dagger stuff was so exciting, he told himself as he skipped back downstairs.


	2. New Arrival

**NEW ARRIVAL**

The next day found the young couple having breakfast with Madoka's parents on the hotel's rooftop, a place reserved exclusively for Mr. Pagott's personal guests. He had joined them and they were talking when Kyousuke asked, "By the way, what's with all the security, Mr. Pagott?"

Mrs. Ayukawa looked at him and nodded. "You noticed it too?"

Andrei looked up from his soup. "The accident at the factory was no accident. It was sabotage."

"Why have security here?"

"My boy, you don't get to where I am now without making a few enemies, some of whom are quite determined." Andrei chuckled dryly. "Besides, my guard dogs are bored out of their minds with nothing to do, so I thought I'd help out."

"Bored, huh?" Madoka remarked. "They don't look like it." All the security men she had seen wore identical expressions of alertness, although they remained courteous and helpful.

After they had finished Andrei excused himself, saying he had to get back downstairs to greet arriving guests. "It's a little custom of mine."

"Kyousuke and I will accompany you," said Madoka, biting down on a chocolate mint from Cardiff's proffered tray. "I'd like to see the city… if you don't mind, Mama, Papa."

"Not at all. I think we'll tag along," said Mr. Ayukawa.

"Would you? That'd be great."

"We'll just change and meet you downstairs. Dear?" Mrs. Ayukawa nodded.

"I think I'll change too," said Kyousuke.

So it was Madoka alone who accompanied Mr. Pagott to his accustomed place atop the landing near the stairs which led up from the jetty. She watched him as he greeted a few guests, sometimes after being prompted by Cardiff, sometimes on his own volition. It didn't escape her notice that a few of the security types lurked nearby.

"How do you know if someone is coming?" Madoka asked after Andrei had greeted one who had come up the stairs noiselessly.

"The wind, girl," he replied, turning towards her with those sightless eyes. "It brings smells to my nose." He turned to stare down the direction of the stairs, grimacing. "I pride myself on being able to identify many perfumes. It's a remnant of the time I used to chase skirts like there was no tomorrow."

Madoka chuckled. "Really? I somehow can't picture you as a woman-chaser, Uncle."

"It's true, unfortunately. Got me into a lot of trouble at times." His head turned as a thought struck him. "That fiancé of yours, he's not like that, is he?"

"No," she replied. _Because if I ever catch him with another, he's going to be very sorry…_ "But for a long time, Uncle, when we first met, he couldn't choose between me and my best friend. He's usually indecisive, so…" She went on to narrate how they first met, and how things dragged along, until Kyousuke, one summer, had to finally decide on the girl he would declare his love for. Of course, that girl was Madoka, and everyone concerned ended up getting hurt as the love triangle broke apart.

"This girl, this Hikaru, what happened to her?"

"Oh, she went to America for a while to pursue her dreams. Then she was kidnapped and we ended up going to New York to rescue her. After that she went back to Japan. She lives with her parents now in Hokkaido."

"And she still keeps in touch with you?"

"Yes, Uncle."

Andrei was quiet for a time. "I think it was noble of you to try and step aside for her sake. Noble and foolish."

Madoka mumbled something to the effect of "it seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

"But how do you feel about the way things have turned out now?"

She stared out to sea, the water winking and twinkling like a jewel with too many facets to comprehend. She didn't know why she was telling him these things. It wasn't like they were close or anything like it. But it felt nice to have someone to unburden herself to. He was a good listener. "Honestly, Uncle? It still hurts, after all this time. I wish there were some other way things could have turned out…"

"And you three could still have remained happy and things stayed the way they were," Andrei finished for her with a sad smile on his face.

"Yes. I suppose I've never really forgiven myself for hurting her," she murmured. "I feel so guilty about wanting him all for myself. But Uncle, now that I have Kyousuke I'll be damned if I'm going to give him up for anyone or any reason."

"Of course." Andrei reached out, searching for her hand. Madoka put it in his own and he gave a quick squeeze. "However, you did what you thought was best and followed your heart, and I believe that is all that can be asked of a person in such a difficult situation. Besides, I think it would have been worse if things had turned out differently."

"How so?"

"Well, from what you've told me, I think Kyousuke would have been unhappy with Hikaru. He'd have probably pined for you and that would have poisoned their relationship. It would have been more of a betrayal of your best friend than what did happen. You would have turned out to be a real villainess then, Madoka."

As she remained silent, pondering Andrei's words, Kyousuke arrived with her parents in tow. "Well, shall we go?"

"Okay." Madoka nodded. She leaned closer to Andrei and whispered. "Thank you, Uncle."

"Don't mention it." She took hold of Kyousuke's arm and they all took their leave of the old man.

"What was that about?" Kyousuke asked as they went down the stairs.

Madoka shrugged. "Just small talk, dear."

------oOo------

Cardiff offered his master a glass of wine, which Andrei took and held in his hand.

"She is a complicated woman," he remarked, sniffing the liquid's bouquet. "Why is it all my 'nieces' have such wonderful love lives?"

Cardiff laughed. "I find it strange to hear that coming from you, sir."

"Yes, well…" He fished out a large oval locket from where it had been under his shirt, hanging by a fine gold chain. Opening it, he stroked the cameo inside with his thumb. _Ah, my Christiana,_ he thought. _I miss you very much._

He remained there for another half-hour, greeting arriving people. Cardiff remained by his side, ready to assist if needed.

Another guest was arriving (he could hear the shush-shush of sandaled feet plodding up the steps) and he prepared to say his greetings when a puff of wind blew something that made Andrei stiffen is his wheelchair. He sniffed.

"Good morning," he called out loudly. "Welcome to the Hotel Adriano." Behind him, Cardiff bowed and smiled at the new arrival, a young lady in a royal-blue minidress and jacket that set off her waist-length blond hair and azure eyes.

"Oh… good morning," came a surprised-sounding reply, strongly colored by a foreign lilt.

"Your pardon, miss."

"Yes?" The woman paused in mid-stride and turned towards them.

"I haven't smelled a woman who used that perfume for a long time. It's jessamine, right?"

The woman smiled a brilliant smile. "Why, yes it is."

"It was also my wife's favorite perfume," Andrei said, smiling back. "Might I have your name, miss? I'm Andrei Pagott, owner of the Hotel Adriano."

The woman pushed strands of wind-blown orange-gold hair from her face. Cornflower-blue eyes looked at milky-white ones as her lively voice told him her name.

"Hikaru Hiyama. Glad to meet you."

------oOo------

"I can't believe you didn't tell us you were coming here," Madoka said reprovingly at the younger girl that night at dinner.

"I told you it was a surprise for Madoka and sempai," replied the vivacious girl with a megawatt smile. "Say, you don't mind, do you? My coming here?"

"No, of course not. In fact, I'm glad you're here."

Kyousuke, mouth full, nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it is," said Mr. Ayukawa. "The more the merrier, eh?"

"Hikaru is glad. I was worried how you'd react to me turning up unannounced."

Mrs. Ayukawa shushed her. "Stop talking nonsense, child. Eat up."

During the meal Hikaru narrated how her trip had gone. She had wanted to arrive at the hotel earlier, but had lost her way twice, and had to roam the city for three hours before she discovered the way to the hotel. "It looks so old," she remarked. "Just like I stepped into a 1940s movie."

"Kyousuke said the same thing," said Mr. Ayukawa.

As the others continued to pay attention to their food, Madoka touched the other girl's arm. "We've got so much to catch up on."

Hikaru nodded. "Yes, we do."

------oOo------

"So, Madoka-san, what have you been doing with yourself lately?" It was early the next morning when Hikaru asked her the question. They were alone on the roof deck, having taken breakfast earlier than the others, and were watching the sun rise in golden hues from its watery grave.

"Well, I'm still a slave to the grind, Star-chan. What about you?"

Hikaru smiled at the use of her long-ago nickname. "Oh, I'm doing fine." She fiddled with the long sleeves of her beige shirt. "I got myself a job at NHK."

"Really? Congratulations! But I thought you were going to audition for another musical."

Hikaru shook her head. "Nah. I don't want to be reminded of that yet."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I've started taking up self-defense classes too."

Madoka chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I just remembered a saying, 'Boxing is like dancing, only there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.'"

Hikaru laughed. "Yeah, it is, I think. It really is good to see you again." They leaned against the low railings of the roof deck. Her voice was gentle as she said, "I've missed you. Both of you."

"Same here," Madoka replied with equal tenderness. "We're all so busy with our lives, I'm afraid there's simply not enough time for us to go visit one another."

"Yeah, but I'm going to take every chance I get!" Hikaru proclaimed. "Friends like you don't grow on trees," she added shyly. "I know it's rather awkward for me to be here like this, but I couldn't help it: I don't want to lose either of you."

Madoka found her heart too full to speak. She hugged Hikaru to her. "Don't worry, I don't either."

Unbeknownst to them, Kyousuke had just stepped out of the elevator. He saw them, and something in their embrace made him stop in his tracks. He watched their hair, golden and raven, intermingling in the breeze, as different as the girls were themselves. But, different though they were, both were still very important parts of his life. They embraced as if they were desperately trying to ward off the effects of time, souls retreating deep into the shell of their friendship for solace, temporary though it might be.

This was no time for him to be here. _After all,_ he thought with no small amount of sadness, _who was the one who tore them apart?_ Not wishing to disturb them, he closed his eyes, concentrated, and vanished from the rooftop into thin air.

Madoka looked up. She thought she had heard someone exit the elevator, but there was no one there.

"Hey, Hikaru, there's something very important I want to ask of you."

"What's that?"

"I'd like you to… well, it's okay if you can't… I'd like you to be my maid of honor… if you want to, that is."

Hikaru's eyes lit up. "Really? Would I? Of course I would!" She laughed in glee and jumped up and down in Madoka's arms. "You're so lucky, big sister."

Madoka found her laughter infectious and chuckled along. Hikaru gave her another big hug, squeezing her friend tightly.

"Madoka-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a question?" Hikaru broke away from her to look at the lightening sky.

"What?"

Hikaru considered how to frame it. "Don't take this the wrong way, big sister," she cautioned, standing in front of Madoka. "I know you're engaged and all, but I really thought you two would be married by now. I mean, you two love each other very much, and none of us are getting younger…"

Her friend was silent for a long time. Then to her surprise a tear emerged from one eye and ran down the side of her face.

"Madoka? What's wrong? Did I say something? 'Cause if I did…" She gently turned her friend around.

"I'm sorry… something's been bothering me for a long while now, that's all."

"You can tell me," prompted the younger girl, going to her purse and digging out a piece of tissue, which she offered. "Come on. Spill the beans. It won't do you any good keeping it in like that."

Madoka accepted the tissue gratefully. Dabbing at the corner of her eyes, she said, "Don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, okay?"

Hikaru nodded.

"As in no one, not even Kyousuke. If you do, I'll never ever speak to you again."

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

Madoka paused, trying to consider the wisdom of asking advice from a girl who had been dumped by her own lover. "You know, you're right in saying I love him and all… but when it comes to marriage, I… I'm afraid, Hikaru."

"Afraid? Why?"

Madoka spoke in a small voice. "It all started with a conversation I had with Kyousuke's cousin Akane a long time ago."

_It was one day just before summer vacation. She and Kyousuke were on their third year of college, and she had dropped by his family's apartment prior to going home. Also visiting were Kyousuke's cousin Akane and her little brother Kazuya._

_The brown-haired girl who had once been infatuated with her had engaged her in small talk. It turned to the topic of their relationship._

_"So, Madoka-chan, like, you're going to go all the way, aren't you?"_

_"What?" exclaimed Madoka, startled._

_"Er, let me rephrase that… You're going to love him with all your might, aren't you? Because you two are made for each other."_

_Madoka colored. It was all the answer Akane needed._

_"So cool!" she trilled. "I wish I had someone to lose myself into…"_

_Madoka cooled down somewhat when she heard that. "Lose yourself into? Don't you think that's a bit dangerous, Akane?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

"_Well, if the relationship goes, what happens to you?"_

_"Then I'll work hard to make sure it doesn't! Besides, don't you think it's selfish to hold back just because you're afraid, when the other person so obviously loves you? It's true! I've never seen my cousin look so stupidly happy so often."_

_Madoka shook her head. "I don't know," she said, remembering Hikaru. "Relationships, well, aren't always written in stone."_

_"I don't care if it's written on rice paper!" Akane wailed. "I'm the only one among my classmates who still hasn't got a boyfriend!" _

"And it's been bothering me ever since," Madoka concluded, more composed than a few minutes ago. "I love him very much, but… how much of myself must I lose to Kyousuke Kasuga? I'm worried that when I marry him I'll lose my own identity." She nervously scratched her wrist. Smiling ruefully, she said, "Sounds silly, doesn't it?"

Hikaru patted her shoulder in encouragement. "Madoka-san, I think you're worrying needlessly. I don't think you'll lose part of yourself at all. If anything, you'll gain by learning more about the person you love—" she felt a lump growing in her throat and fought to keep a straight face "—than anyone else on the planet." Laughing, she added, "Listen to me. I sound like a DJ on 'Advice for the Lovelorn.' Hikaru Hiyama, Professor of Psychology. You've got to trust him more, big sister."

Madoka thought about what she said. Trust. The usual sore spot with her. Because she had been forced to take care of herself, she had learned to not immediately trust the things that made her happy. Like the times when her parents would return to Japan. She had found she'd be happy while they were home, but after they left she was all alone again. There were always people out there who had wanted to take advantage of her: the girls who had befriended her but were actually recruiting for their gangs; the boys and men who thought they were cool and tried to put the moves on her; now, the sleazy people who comprised the sordid underbelly of the music industry. She had learned to protect herself, to stay apart from others, in order to shield her soul from the too-rough fingers of the world.

"Funny how I'm asking you for advice now. Usually it's the other way around."

Hikaru smiled. "Hikaru is glad she's not a total doozy, you know," the younger girl said. "Consider it part payment for all the times _you_ helped _me_. But this'll cost you, _Pick no Madoka_," she added, using Madoka's _sukeban_ nickname.

"How much, Hiyama?" asked Madoka, smiling.

"Come with me to town," said Hikaru, "and let's go sightseeing together. Just the two of us. Even lovers need time apart from each other."

Madoka, after a moment's consideration, nodded. "It's a deal."

------oOo------

After Kyousuke had teleported off the roof, he found himself rematerialized in mid-air. Three feet below him was the floor… and an old man in a wheelchair.

_Oh, no!_ he thought, just before plunging down. There was a welter of noise, pain, and confusion, and a momentary blackness as his head struck something hard.

"Oww…" he heard a voice groan as he tried to deal with the spinning of his head. Something about it tickled his fancy, but he couldn't resolve what it was, what with the pain and all.

The first coherent thought he had was if Andrei Pagott was alright. He was sure who it was whom he had crashed into—unless there happened to be another old man with a shock of unruly white hair in a wheelchair staying at the Adriano. The second thought was why was it still so dark? He tried to open his eyes, then realized with a start that they _were_ already open. Yet everything remained black.

Deciding that he was probably still stunned, Kyousuke rested. He focused his attention on what he was feeling, trying to further assess the damage to his body. And the signals he was getting were disconcerting. He couldn't explain it, couldn't understand it. But he felt very different. As if a heavy concrete block were sitting on his chest. As if he was very, very tired.

"What's going on?" he heard the voice say again. With sudden clarity he realized what had been so unusual about it: it was his own! But it sounded so remote and faraway.

He tried to talk, and the raspy sounds that issued from his own throat served to further alarm him.

"Are you alright?"

Suddenly the voice shrieked. "I can see! I can see! What…" There was a silence, then the loud sound of footfalls going away on a smooth tiled floor. Again a silence, then a loud bellow.

"Holy shit!"

"Hey, don't shout so loud," Kyousuke tried to tell the voice. He tried to get up off the floor, rolling away from the hard thing that was digging into his side. He touched cold metal, felt the cool floor.

A pair of hands gripped him and hauled him upright. "What the hell is going on?" came his voice, harsh and angry and more than a bit frightened.

"Ah, I think I'll need to explain." He tried to steady himself and almost fell over. "But keep quiet or else we might never get back into our own bodies, Mr. Pagott."

"…Kyousuke?"

"Yes."

The arm holding him upright adjusted itself, and there was the sound of something being moved. "Here. Sit." Kyousuke sat, and, feeling with his hands, found himself in a wheelchair.

"Please explain what has happened." There was a short burst of Italian which sounded rather uncomplimentary, then "Before I go out of my mind."

"Where are we?" Kyousuke asked. The old man's voice lingered in the silence.

"Just outside my room."

The ESPer's mind was suddenly racing a mile a minute. "Bring us inside, please. And close the door."

When the old man residing in Kyousuke's body had done so, Kyousuke began to explain what had happened. After his account, Mr. Pagott/Kyousuke Kasuga snorted.

"I'd brand you a liar in a second," he said, "if it was not for the undisputable fact that I _am_ in your body and seeing my own talking to me." There was the sound of a chair being scraped on the floor, and creaking. "However, I do find this experience a novel one. And enjoyable. After being sick and blind for more than five years… I think you understand."

"Yes, well, we have to get back to our own bodies as soon as possible."

"And just how do we do that, young man?"

Kyousuke pictured himself calling Mr. Pagott a 'young man.' "We have to knock heads together. It's how we got exchanged in the first place."

"No way. My head's still swimming from the last one."

"But Mr. Pagott…"

"How did you slam into me in the first place? I heard nothing, smelled nothing…"

Kyousuke was desperate for the conversation to end and for Mr. Pagott to give him back his body. "Please, sir…"

"Answer my question, Kasuga-san."

"I-I can't. It's a family secret."

"Oho. So your family can do this as well."

Kyousuke cursed himself inwardly. "Mr. Pagott…"

"I only insist that you answer my question because your answer may explain some strange things have been happening around here recently. Tit for tat, okay? Otherwise I might not give you your body back." Evidently Mr. Pagott was used to twisting arms to get his way.

_Madoka!_ Kyousuke thought. The thought of her being fooled by this impostor, this ghost in his shell, crushed him. There would be no limits to what Mr. Pagott could get away with once he met with her. He could try to impel him with his mind… but no, he couldn't even see where he was to aim his Power. Feeling utterly helpless, he gave in.

"Alright. I'll answer your question." Kyousuke narrated how he had gone to look for his fiancé, found her room empty and gone to the roof deck. Then he had seen the two girls talking, decided to make a quiet, hasty exit, and teleported himself elsewhere.

"But sometimes my aim isn't too good," Kyousuke/Andrei said. "I materialized above you and that's when this happened."

There was a long period of silence. Finally Kyousuke's voice spoke. "You can exchange bodies, and you can teleport. This is all so unreal. But I was familiar with magic once. I never thought I'd experience its like again."

"It's not magic. It's ESP."

"Pshaw. To a blind man all paintings are alike." The voice changed, as if it was talking to itself. "Yes, yes, now I see… Very well, Kyousuke Kasuga. I will return this body to you. But I must warn you about something. There was a man outside your girlfriend's room two nights ago."

"What are you talking about?"

Mr. Pagott went on to explain how they had become aware of certain people, who had arrived a week or so before Kyousuke and Madoka did, acting in suspicious ways. They put a watch on them and discovered they were looking for something or someone in the hotel. With that knowledge, they put a guard on all floors of the hotel with microcameras and were able to catch one obviously scouting out the second floor, particularly Madoka's room.

"We saw her talking to him. After that, we observed him hurriedly making a report to whoever his superiors were, and decided to take him in for questioning."

"What does that have to do with Madoka and me?"

"Kyousuke, now that I know what you can do, I think that man was looking for _you_. All of these people had these gadgets we knew nothing about. Now I think they were using the devices to track you."

A cold chill crept down Kyousuke's back. "How?"

"Maybe they can track you with your power. I can't think of anything else they would be interested in here at the hotel. Does Madoka have any enemies?"

"Except for her competition in the music business, I don't think so."

"I see. That settles it then. They're most definitely interested in you… but you know, you had already left Madoka's room when she talked to that man."

Kyousuke thought about it and came to a frightening conclusion. "That means they must think Madoka's the one with the Power…"

Although he couldn't see it, Andrei/Kyousuke nodded. "You see my point."

"Mr. Pagott, please! Give me my body back! I have to go to her!"

"Don't worry, Kasuga-san. You may not know it, but all of you have been under my protection since you stepped foot on this island. She's not in any danger."

Frantic, Kyousuke reached out with his mind. Andrei watched in amazement and anger as the gold locket containing his dead wife's portrait was flung into the air. It landed on the floor with a clatter.

"Hey!" Mr. Pagott almost struck out blindly at him for that, but something in the young man's desperation to be with his loved one touched a long-buried memory within him. He sighed.

"Alright already, Kasuga-san. You don't need to wreck my room to make your point."

When the exchange was done, Kyousuke took the old man back to his bed.

"Mr. Pagott, I must ask you to keep this Power of mine a secret," he pleaded. "If you reveal it to anyone else it will have dire consequences for me and my family." Kyousuke told him of what happened the previous times his family's Power had been found out.

Turning his head in Kyousuke's direction, the old man shrugged. "Who'd believe blind old me? They'd chalk it up to senility or dementia. Besides, you don't live here. But you're right. It will put you in danger, more danger than you are in now." He nodded once. "I will keep your secret. But a favor?"

"Yes?"

Andrei told him. Kyousuke somehow found himself not surprised. "I'll have to think about it, sir. If you'll excuse me, I have to see Madoka. I'm not free to make this decision alone."

"Indeed you are not," said Mr. Pagott. "You are very wise for a young man. When you leave, please send for my butler. I think I'm going to throw up, my head's spinning so…"

After the dour Englishman had arrived to see to his master's needs, Kyousuke headed straight upstairs to the rooftop—this time by elevator. His mind was roiling with the recent tumultuous events. He was wondering whether Madoka's godfather could be trusted.

When he reached the roof there was no one there. He checked her room. Not there either. In quick succession he visited the dining room and the garden, the small Pagott family museum and the dock. She was nowhere to be found.

Anxious by now, Kyousuke rushed back to Andrei Pagott's room. There he found her talking with him, dressed as if she were going out.

"There you are!" he said. "I've been looking all over for you."

Madoka regarded him coolly. "Kyousuke, what have you been up to?" Her eyes flicked towards the man seated in the wheelchair.

He paused and nodded somberly. "He knows, Madoka. It was an accident."

"Have you agreed to his request?" A fine eyebrow arched delicately.

"I was hoping to ask your opinion."

"It's totally up to you," she replied. "I don't want to influence you in any way."

------oOo------

Though made aware of possible danger, Madoka still insisted on going out with Hikaru. Kyousuke protested and tried to introduce himself into their group, but she was having none of it.

"I can take care of myself, okay?" she had said. Kyousuke was insistent, she was unrepentant, and they were on the verge of another fight when Hikaru interposed herself between the two.

"I'll look after her," she had told him after taking him aside. "Sempai, just this once, I think you two need some time apart. Okay?" Somewhat mollified, Kyousuke had relented, but still kept on Madoka's case, telling her to watch her step. She, still irritated, nodded abruptly, and left with Hikaru. He didn't mind, as he was used to her mercurial moods.

He remained on the top landing of the stairs leading to the jetty watching as the small ferryboat pulled away. The sun had already risen high enough to beat down on his unprotected head, and he was turning away for the shelter of the lobby when Andrei, accompanied by his shadow Cardiff, came up to him.

"Kasuga-san. I've put a bodyguard of mine on that boat," he said. "His orders are to keep out of sight, tail Madoka and make sure she remains safe."

"Thank you. That eases my mind a lot." Kyousuke pushed the windblown black hair out of his eyes.

"Would you like to do something to take your mind off your worries, and at the same time help ensure her safety and yours?" asked Andrei.

"Yes, I do."

"Then follow me please." Whispering an instruction to Cardiff, the trio left.

------oOo------

"Sempai sure was worried about you," Hikaru commented, watching the island growing smaller as the boat went on its way, rising and falling sedately in time with the swells.

"Yeah. He gets on my nerves that way." Madoka was smiling as she said it. "Sometimes he's such an old fogey."

The blonde girl grinned.

------oOo------

"When I said I was willing to help you, this wasn't quite what I had in mind," Kyousuke said, wincing as one of Andrei's guards cinched the straps girding the bulletproof vest he wore. After it fit to his liking, he put a loose black sweatshirt over it. Over his legs was a pair of black pants. A pair of black boots shod his feet.

"I'm not asking you to go fighting or anything like that," said Andrei. "We just want to use you as bait."

"That's not exactly reassuring."

"All you need to do is use your power. The bulletproof vest is just insurance. After all, I wouldn't want to make Madoka a widow before she even got married." The old man chuckled.

The thought of bullets piercing his beloved pink body make Kyousuke cringe. "You thrive on this stuff, don't you?"

"I was a soldier long before I became a businessman, Kasuga-san."

The guard nodded at Kyousuke. "He's all set, sir," he told his boss.

"Good. In two hours you can begin."

"What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Just use your power, is all. Leave the rest to us."

"What will you do?"

"We will act like a cat and wait for the mice to come out of their burrow," answered Andrei with a grin of satisfaction. "Then we will catch them."


	3. At the Edge of Things

**AT THE EDGE OF THINGS**

After returning from their excursion, Madoka and Hikaru went to their respective rooms to shower and change for dinner. At Andrei's belated request ("Call it a stupid old man's whim," he had said to them), Madoka was to follow in her mother's footsteps and play a few pieces on the piano that night.

She emerged from her room in a slinky floor-length evening gown, dark purple in color and adorned with silver glitter. Kyousuke admired the way it clung in all the right places, yet flowed with elegant grace to the floor. It was sleeveless, with only a pair of wisp-like spaghetti straps to hang it over her shoulders.

She caught him staring at her again. "Kyousuke," she softly called. "Remember where the dining room is?"

"Oh, sorry." He helped her into her gown's matching jacket and led her downstairs.

As he was seating her at their table, he happened to look towards the dining room's main entrance. As if on cue, Hikaru appeared, her white summer dress only a little less dazzling than the sparkle in her eyes. She waved and flashed him a smile.

"Hey, sempai, you look good tonight," she said as she came up to the table. Kyousuke had covered himself with a burgundy smoking jacket lent him by the Adriano staff.

"Thanks. You too," he complimented her. "I'm already aware of several jealous stares." He sat down between the two girls.

Madoka was quiet throughout the meal. Noticing this, Kyousuke asked her, "What's wrong? Nervous about playing?"

"Who doesn't?" she answered. "Get nervous, I mean. But it's not that. I feel uneasy, as if something unpleasant is lurking just around the corner."

Kyousuke listened to her seriously. Despite her not being an ESPer, he had found Madoka's intuition almost a match for his own power of precognition—often more accurate, in fact. And it didn't get her into trouble the way his power got him into one mess after another.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing. You just have a good time there, okay?" Kyousuke reassured her, nodding towards the piano.

"'Kay." For a moment Madoka looked as if she was going to argue with him, but chose to keep quiet.

After half an hour a member of the Adriano staff, a perky brunette who usually hosted the evening performances, introduced Madoka. There was a scattering of polite applause as she made her way to the stage and sat down at the piano. A spotlight shone on her as she started to play. The silver on her gown came to life, glittering in the light.

She had gone through two pieces, "Emotion," and "With You," when Kyousuke looked at his watch and noted that it was time. Cursing the unfortunate coincidence, he stood up and cast a penitent glance at her. _I'm sorry, Madoka._ He excused himself and hurried out the front door.

She covertly watched as he went away, trying hard not to let the disappointment appear on her face. _Where is he going now, of all times?_ She turned her attention back to her music. The third piece she had selected, "Omoi no Yukue," now seemed incredibly ironic as she began to play it. It was hard for her not to feel despondent. _He must have had a good reason._

She wasn't the only one who took notice of Kyousuke's exit. Mr. and Mrs. Ayukawa exchanged glances. Hikaru's worried gaze followed her sempai out the door. To run out on his soon-to-be-wife's recital…

She turned to look at Madoka, noting the older girl's tightened lips and the way she stared at the keyboard, unseeing. The moment their eyes met, she jerked a thumb at the door and mimed taking a picture.

_So he's gone for his camera._ The thought made her feel a bit better. She gave Hikaru a brief nod. With his Power, he'd probably be gone for a couple of minutes or so.

But at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor rooms, Kyousuke's vacillation caught up with him. _I can't do this to Madoka,_ he thought angrily. _But I promised Mr. Pagott. Lives are at stake._ He racked his brain for a solution. Images flashed back and forth in his mind. Grim, black-suited men flanking a blind old man in a wheelchair, waiting for a signal to attack. A woman with long black tresses playing a brown baby grand, her gown shimmering under the stage lights, also waiting…

An idea slowly dawned in his mind, a way to kill two birds with one stone. He vanished from the foot of the stairs in a burst of Power.

------oOo------

Madoka had just finished "Omoi no Yukue," but Kyousuke still hadn't returned. _Where are you? _Without really thinking about it, her fingers began playing the opening bars of "Kyousuke No.1 – I Want You Here." It was the song she had played back in 1994 when she tried to help a younger version of him, time-traveled from three years before—the one who had experienced the car accident—bring back his present identity from a self-imposed exile in a nameless oblivion.

Hikaru was already about to go looking for her sempai when he appeared at the dining room entrance, flustered and panting. He carried one of his cameras with him.

As he returned to his seat, he made a slight bow in Madoka's direction, mouthing "Sorry" repeatedly. She spared him a brief glance. The look in her eyes told him he was in trouble with her. Again.

Groaning, he slid dejectedly into his seat. When he turned to Hikaru, he found much the same expression on her face. "Sempai," she whispered. "I don't think Madoka-san's happy with you running off like that."

Inwardly, however, she had already decided to forgive him. She was just letting him stew a bit, partly to teach him a lesson and partly for her own amusement. It was amazing how every time she played "I Want You Here"—which was rarely, since the song meant so much to her—Kyousuke would appear in the vicinity, just like magic.

The pounding beat reminded the aforementioned time-traveler of his scheme. It was risky, to be sure, but this way, no one was going to be left in the lurch. Trying to appear as if he was simply listening, he closed his eyes, stretched out his feelings to the music, and concentrated.

Bit by bit, too subtle to be noticed as out of the ordinary at first, tiny white sparkles flashed in the air around the piano player. As she played, the flashes became more and more distinct, until she seemed to be in another world from the audience, a world populated by little white lights which appeared, throbbed, whirled in time to the music, then vanished into thin air.

Murmurs of amazement sounded throughout the audience. Madoka herself was entranced by the little flashes of light. She smiled, closed her eyes, and allowed herself to fall deeper into the spell of her music.

Hikaru, however, was not paying any attention to the display onstage. She was watching Kyousuke.

------oOo------

In the command center, carved deep into the rock of the island, a man with a handlebar mustache pressed a headset to his ears. He pumped his arm once. "Yes," he hissed. Turning to his boss, who sat in his wheelchair like a statue made of granite, he reported, "Got them, sir. The boat will be history in a few minutes."

"Excellent. Mop up."

------oOo------

The ending flourish of "I Want You Here" brought Madoka a standing ovation from the audience. The little white sparkles had slowly died away as she neared the end of the song, leaving her and her music, powerful and compelling, to go on alone.

She stood up and bowed, then looked at Kyousuke. Flashing him a smile, she mouthed "Thank you" silently.

Kyousuke smiled back and shook his head. He raised a thumbs-up sign at her. Helping her off the stage, they said to each other "Darling, that was—beautiful!" at the same time. Laughing, Kyousuke escorted his lady love back to her seat. Madoka's parents beamed at her, immensely proud.

"Sempai, are you okay?" asked Hikaru as Kyousuke returned to his place.

"Don't I look okay, Hikaru-chan?" said Kyousuke.

"Well, you looked like you were ill or something a minute ago."

"Ah, that was nothing. I was just listening to the music."

Hikaru had noticed his strained expression, his clenched fists opening and closing, but decided not to mention it. She felt like she was on the verge of understanding something… but what?

------oOo------

After the mini-concert Andrei motioned for Kyousuke to join him.

"Bad news," he muttered. "We captured all of the bad guys, but it looks like they stole a march on us and already had a squad in place here."

Kyousuke's eyes flicked over the dining room crowd. "We should get Madoka out of here," he said, suddenly anxious again.

Andrei nodded. "Bring her underground," he instructed Cardiff. "That will be safest, until we catch the remaining agents."

"Yes, sir." Cardiff went to fetch her.

"Thank you for covering up for me like that," said Kyousuke. Andrei had taken the mike after Madoka stepped down, thanking her and, based on the reactions of the people he was hearing, noting how good the newly-installed laser effects system seemed to be working.

"Do you do stunts like that often?"

Kyousuke shook his head. "No."

"Good." Andrei shrugged. "Because I was wondering how you've lived this long."

------oOo------

They were on their way to the underground command center of Andrei's little army, which was accessed through a secret door located at the end of the path which went past his room. One of his guards, the same silent man who had met them at the airport, walked some distance ahead of the little group of Madoka, Kyousuke, and Cardiff, checking to see the coast was clear.

They were crossing the edge of the garden. Madoka, determined not to let the danger of the situation get her down, was asking Kyousuke how he got the idea for his miniature light show.

"Dust," he told her.

"What?"

"I saw the way your gown glittered under the lights. I figured it would be nice to imitate it. There's always dust in the air, and I used my Power on it."

"Just like the gravel on the beach."

They watched as the guard walking ahead of them as he turned the corner where the path went past Andrei's suite.

"I hope we never encounter this back in Japan," she said, her deep green eyes full of concern.

"We still have to ascertain whether this particular group is working alone or not," Cardiff interjected.

"Can I ask you something, sir?" Kyousuke hugged Madoka closer to him.

"Certainly, Mr. Kasuga."

"Mr. Pagott said he was familiar with magic before. Do you know what he meant by that?"

Cardiff shook his head. "I am privy to a lot of Mr. Pagott's private life, but the only thing I can tell you about that is this: legend has it that certain members of his family were reputed to have strange powers, quite like yours, from what I hear."

Kyousuke's eyes bugged out. "You know too? About my powers?"

"Yes sir. It would be impossible for me not too. I am, after all, Mr. Pagott's right-hand man, his eyes and ears and legs, if you will. But don't worry, young master, I shall keep your secret."

They turned round the corner. All hell broke loose.

------oOo------

Andrei was in his office above the dining room when the sound of gunfire reached his ears. "John!" he barked. "What's that?"

The large man dressed in olive slacks and windbreaker spoke into his walkie-talkie. A harassed voice answered him, shouting, overmodulating his radio badly.

"Seems like we're under attack," the man named John reported. "The docks."

Below, in the dining room, chaos ensued as hotel patrons rushed to find safety. Mr. and Mrs. Ayukawa were hustled out by one of Andrei's Praetorian Guard.

"Where are the kids?" Mr. Ayukawa shouted over the noise of the screaming crowd.

"They're somewhere safe," the guard reassured them. "Now we've got to get you to safety as well."

------oOo------

Madoka screamed in fright as the body of the guard toppled to the ground in front of them. There, in the middle of the corridor, stood a tall figure dressed in black, with a balaclava over his head, pointing a wicked-looking black automatic at her head.

The man's eyes shone a pale, watery blue. "That's far enough. Whoever moves dies."

Cardiff reflexively reached for the gun holstered at the small of his back. The black-suited man pivoted and fired twice. Andrei's butler crashed to the floor, propelled backwards by a pair of 9mm hollowpoints.

Kyousuke quickly moved himself in front of Madoka. The man pointed his gun at him.

"I want your lady friend," said the man, a sneer in his soft voice. "Move back and no one gets hurt."

"Wait," Kyousuke said, heart beating rapidly. "You're mistaken. I know what you're looking for." The man's eyes narrowed. "She isn't it. It's me you want."

"Oh really? Step aside, little boy."

"Please! She isn't an ESPer, I am!"

"Right. You don't fool me. You're just trying to protect her."

"No, really… you've got to believe me…"

"Sempai!"

_Hikaru!_

The man turned to fire past Kyousuke.

Suddenly time seemed to slow down. He could see every detail on the gun as it was aimed, including the bore, which seemed a darkest black, a hole stretching all the way into hell. Reaching out with his mind, he locked the gun's action just before the man pressed the trigger. There was a _click,_ but the gun didn't fire.

The man stood still for a moment, startled. Madoka lashed out with a roundhouse kick that clipped the side of his head and left him stunned. Reeling, he tottered forwards. She quickly grabbed the back of his head with both hands and introduced the bridge of his nose to her knee. He fell onto the path, senseless.

"Shit," she said, breathing ragged, looking down at her gown. "I tore it. And it was such a nice dress too."

Kyousuke kicked the gun away from their senseless assailant's hand. He turned around to see Hikaru standing on the path, while Madoka knelt beside Cardiff.

"Hikaru…"

She was trembling visibly. Kyousuke crossed the distance to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you alright, Hikaru-chan?"

The younger girl managed a weak smile. "I thought for sure I was going to die…"

All of a sudden she threw her arms around Kyousuke. "Sempai!" she bawled.

Kyousuke embraced her and tried to calm her down. "It's all right now," he cooed into her hair, stroking and patting her back. "You're safe. You're safe, Star."

"Kyousuke!"

He turned and watched as Madoka helped Cardiff into a sitting position. There was blood on his shirt, and he was groaning, definitely conscious.

"Good old twenty-eight plies," he was mumbling, patting his chest. "But bloody hell, does it hurt."

"Thank Heaven you're okay," said Madoka.

"Well, you know what they say. 'It's hard to kill an evil seed.' Ouch. I think I broke a rib."

"Hang on. We'll get help."

"No!" Cardiff choked. "There's no telling how many are still out there. Stay here. I'll be alright."

"What about the guard?" Kyousuke asked Madoka.

She stood up and walked over. Reaching down, she felt for a pulse. She shook her head. "I think his neck's broken." Her voice was even, but Kyousuke could see the horror in her eyes.

"Let's get you inside Mr. Pagott's room, at least," said Kyousuke to Cardiff.

With Madoka and Hikaru's help he was able to drag the wounded man into the relative safety of Andrei's room. They left him sitting propped against a wall while the two girls fetched medical supplies from Mr. Pagott's bathroom, where Cardiff said they were located.

There was a noise outside. Quickly Kyousuke picked up the butler's silver pistol and aimed it at the door. His hand was shaking. He had never fired a gun in his life. Now just didn't seem a good time to start doing so.

"Hello in there! Don't shoot! I'm coming in!" A figure in black appeared in the doorway. Kyousuke recognized him as one of Mr. Pagott's personal retinue and sighed with relief. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard outside.

The man took his helmet and macabre black steel mask off. He was a tall Caucasian with brown hair, black eyes and a luxurious moustache. "Is everyone alright?"

"Cardiff's been hit," reported Kyousuke. "And the guard escorting us is dead."

He quickly told the man what had happened.

"Damn," said he, watching as the girls dumped the medical kits onto the floor beside the wounded Englishman. "It's been rather hairy so far," he said. "But I think we're finally getting the upper hand. Two attacked the dining room, three held the docks, and your boy over here… makes six. Maybe that's all of them. Here, I'll do that." He crouched down by Cardiff's side and ripped open a gauze packet.

"Madoka-san?" It was Hikaru.

"Yeah?"

"How come we always seem to get into these types of situations? What's this all about anyway?" she asked, looking very confused.

"Oh, you can thank him for it," said the man, jerking a thumb casually in Kyousuke's direction. Cardiff flashed him a warning glance, but he apparently missed it.

"These people are after this friend of yours."

Hikaru looked long at Kyousuke. "Sempai, is this true? They're after you…but why?"

The man treating Cardiff opened his mouth to speak. The butler promptly shoved a wad of cotton into it, groaning with pain as he did so.

"I… I think it's a case of mistaken identity," Kyousuke stammered. "Anyway, Mr. Pagott has promised to take care of these goons for us."

"Someone please guard the door," said Cardiff. "We're still in a battlefield, may I remind you."

Kyousuke was moving towards the entrance when Madoka shouted, "Hey wait, Kyousuke, don't go, I haven't…"

The man she had knocked out suddenly appeared at the door, gun in hand. Kyousuke saw him pointing the weapon at Madoka.

"Madoka! _Abunai!_" He leapt at the man. There was no time to do anything else.

There was a flash, and lightning streaked along Kyousuke's skull. Darkness descended upon him and he knew no more.

------oOo------

The whole world seemed to collapse in on itself as Madoka Ayukawa watched him fall. The guy she had first met—for the second time in her life, as it turned out—on top of the magical 100-step stairs while chasing her red straw hat. The guy who had tried to lecture her on the evils of smoking, only to receive a resounding slap to the face. The guy who had asked her "Ayukawa – 'Like' or 'Love'?" The same person who, just last winter, emerged spluttering from a snowbank into which he had chased the small velvet box he had dropped, opening it and asking, "Madoka, will you marry me?"

"Kyousuke!"

A cold rage ignited in her veins. All other concerns dissolved away save her need to kill the man who had hurt him. He was aiming again at her beloved, grinning a savage smile, when he was distracted by Hikaru, who screamed and threw the nearest object she could get her hands on—a vase—at him as hard as she could. As he avoided it and switched targets, Madoka quickly snatched the gun from the hands of Andrei's frozen guard, aimed, and pulled the trigger twice. He jerked backward with a surprised expression, tumbling into a flower box full of yellow blossoms. Vision blinded by rage, she proceeded to pump bullets into the prone form, her teeth bared, her throat emitting keening sounds. She slowly walked towards the man, whose body jerked as bullet after bullet hit it. The first three bullets went into his chest. Then she emptied the rest of the magazine into his face, his blood and gore spattering the yellow flowers.

The pistol slide locked open as the last round was expended. Madoka still stood over the fallen, aiming the gun at him, still mechanically pulling the trigger until the guard pried the weapon loose from her hand.

Without a word she dropped to her knees and vomited into the flowerbox. When her stomach had finished heaving, she wiped her mouth with the torn hem of her dress and went to where Kyousuke had fallen. Hikaru had reached him and was cradling him in her arms, a helpless expression on her face, her dress stained with his blood. "Oh, sempai… sempai, no…"

Trembling, she knelt down beside them and took Kyousuke from her, resting his head on her chest.

"Hikaru." The younger girl watched as her friend's eyes glistened with unborn tears. Her face was pale and composed—but just barely. "Please get help."

"_Hai!_" Hikaru stood up and, accompanied by the guard, left in search of assistance.

Madoka looked down at him, gently straightening his tousled, blood-wet hair. Wetting her hands with alcohol from the first-aid kit, she took a gauze packet, ripped it open and, shuddering, pressed it onto his wound. She could barely see; her unshed tears were blinding her.

"_Anata,_" she whispered. "Please be alright. Don't leave me." Kyousuke made no response.

Bit by bit the tears started to fall. When she couldn't take it anymore, Madoka collapsed onto his inert body and wept.

------oOo------

"No. I have to be with him."

Hikaru watched as her friend stubbornly refused her parents' offer of spelling her and going with Kyousuke to the hospital while she rested.

"As you wish, daughter. We'll be along later."

A helicopter equipped for casevac was coming along in a few minutes to pick Kyousuke and one other seriously wounded person up for transport to the mainland. Two medics from Andrei's security force had stabilized him. So far, he seemed out of danger.

"I'll look after her," Hikaru told Mrs. Ayukawa. "Please don't worry."

Madoka's mother took Hikaru's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you, dear. You're a godsend." She cast a worried glance at her daughter, still hovering by Kyousuke's stretcher in her ruined, stained gown, as still as a statue.

After the elder couple had left, Hikaru made her way to stand beside Madoka.

"Big sister?"

The other girl made no response.

"I'm coming with you, okay?"

Madoka looked at her, flashed a strained smile. "Thanks, Hikaru. I think if I rest even a moment now… I'll fall to pieces."

Hikaru looked at her, then down at Kyousuke, head wrapped in thick bandages and with an oxygen mask on his face. Although she believed the medics when they had told them he was incredibly lucky for one who had been shot in the head, her heart felt a twinge of concern as the sight sank in. She still loved him. And she feared for Madoka.

"They say he's going to be all right," she said.

There was a pause. "It's my fault."

"What is?"

"I should have reminded him about the man sooner."

"No it's not. You couldn't have known he'd wake up so soon." Hikaru gripped her hand. "He must've been one tough SOB."

"Yeah, and this idiot was unlucky enough to get shot by him."

"Well, you certainly took care of that," Hikaru remarked.

"Yes, I did," agreed Madoka in a flat voice. She couldn't begin to tell her about the horror that had descended upon her when she realized that she had taken a man's life. She felt like going somewhere and trembling until she had shaken herself to pieces, but her concern for Kyousuke overrode all other considerations. As far as she was concerned, the bastard who had shot him deserved it.


	4. An Unexpected Meeting

**AN UNEXPECTED MEETING**

"Where am I?"

Kyousuke Kasuga found himself drifting in a black, nameless void. He was feeling a funny sensation, like he was in a dream but couldn't wake up just yet.

"Hello?" he called into the darkness.

There was a faint reply, an echo that wasn't an echo.

"Kyousuke…"

"Who's that?"

A figure suddenly appeared from out of the darkness, walking towards him.

Recognition made him start. "Mom?"

"Yes, dear son."

His eyes stung. "What are you doing here? What am I doing here?"

"You don't remember how you got here?"

He frowned. "All I remember is… holy shit, I think I got shot!"

The figure laughed, tossing back its head full of shoulder-length brown hair. "Yes, you did."

"Mom!" Kyousuke reproached her. "This isn't funny."

"You should look at yourself in the mirror, dear."

"Why? Is there a hole in my head? Am I dead?"

The figure shook her head. "No you're not. You'll be sleeping for a while."

Kyousuke willed himself closer to her. "You look so… young, Mom."

"Do I?" She smiled gently. "I guess it's better to look this way than like an old crone, don't you think?" She reminded him of her early, untimely death.

"Mom…"

"Listen, eldest, I don't have much time. I just… I just wanted to say hello to you. And be with you for a while."

"No problem there. I don't think I'm going anywhere just yet."

"How's your father? Your sisters?" The questions tumbled out of her like water being spilled from a dam.

"Pop is fine, Mom. He still hasn't remarried." Kyousuke saw her smile crookedly. "Crazy fool…" he heard her say softly.

"Kurumi and Manami are doing fine," he continued. "Both have boyfriends now. And both are still gluttons." He sighed. "At least Kurumi's cooking has improved tremendously."

"Kurumi… I'm sad I never got to watch her grow up. Will you tell her I said hi?"

"Of course."

"And Manami too. Tell her thanks for taking up the slack."

"You want I should write this down, Mom?"

"Sorry, dear. Times like this are very few and far between, even for us ESPers."

"I was just kidding."

"And good luck to you on your wedding. May you and your lucky bride always be happy." A frown appeared on her face. "She sure isn't right now."

"Madoka? How is she?"

"She's by your side now, looking like a wreck." The woman once known as Akemi Kasuga looked straight at him. "She killed a man because of you, Kyousuke."

Kyousuke dropped his gaze. To think of Madoka's hands, red with blood…

"Because of her great love and fear for you, Kyousuke. She has sacrificed part of herself—her innocence—in your name."

He laughed a shame-faced laugh. "I always told myself I'd die for her—it looks like I was almost right this time." _I'm sorry again, Madoka. I seem to be causing trouble all the time._

"The red string binding you two is strong, very strong. But there is still…" his mother intoned, her voice sounding different from when she had first appeared.

His mother began to fade away.

"Mom!"

"You have another red string attached to you, Kyousuke," said she, her voice fading along with her image. "I can't see where it leads… Please tell everyone I miss them!"

"We miss you too, Mom!"

"And tell your father to stop looking at the world from behind a camera for a while. And use his own eyes, like he did when we first met!"

"I will!"

"Goodbye, my son…"

------oOo------

Kyousuke woke up to the silent sterility of a hospital room. His head throbbed faintly. _A red string_, he thought. Why did a red string seem so important? He tried to remember, but the dream he had dreamed was already fading away.

Madoka was there, slumped in a chair, asleep. A black leather jacket was spread over her, no doubt by Hikaru, who sat quietly in another chair, watching a silent TV.

Kyousuke groaned and tried to move. Hikaru looked his way, and her bleary eyes lit up when she saw he was awake.

"Sempai!"

The shout woke Madoka, who jerked upright. Throwing off the jacket, she rushed to his bedside, a fraction of a heartbeat behind Hikaru.

"Sempai! How do you feel?"

"Wha… I feel okay, I guess. Ouch." Kyousuke grimaced. "Except for my head." He looked up at Madoka. "Hello, dear."

She took his hand. "Hello. We meet again."

Kyousuke's cheeks twitched upwards in a smile as he remembered her using the same words long before, when they woke up in a hotel room thinking they had frozen to death in a ski lift the previous night, and were now living in an afterlife. "Kasuga Kyousuke. Pleased to meet you."

Hikaru watched the exchange. "What are you two talking about?" she asked petulantly. Madoka was about to explain when she remembered the reason they had gone to the ski lift in the first place: to escape being caught, alone with Kyousuke, in the girls' hotel room by Hikaru. She shut her mouth.

Eyeing her, Kyousuke explained the situation to his one-time _kouhai_. "And that, is the truth, Hikaru, painful as it may be to you and me…"

"I see… You know, I saw you." Hikaru's eyes were lost in memory. "I saw you and Madoka-san, running away through the snow. I was wondering where you were going. Now I understand."

"Enough talk for now, Kyousuke. Please rest," said Madoka, gently patting his forearm. "Let's continue this later."

Kyousuke nodded slowly, closed his eyes.

As Madoka returned to her seat, Hikaru pulled her chair opposite hers. "Madoka-san."

"Yes?"

"Any more incidents like that I should know about?"

Madoka frowned. "I don't think you'll like hearing about them."

"Oh, big sister!" Hikaru almost shouted, suddenly angry at her. "I'm no longer a wet-behind-the-ears kid, you know. It's better for me to know the truth. It would have been easier for me…"

Madoka was quiet as she watched her struggle with her inner feelings. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Yes!"

"Alright. Some of them are actually pretty funny, once you get to think about it…"

------oOo------

"Kyousuke?"

"Mmm?"

"Why'd you tell her about what happened at the ski lift?"

It was next evening, and Kyousuke and Madoka were alone in the hospital room, Hikaru having gone out for supper.

"It's not fair for us to keep the truth from her anymore," Kyousuke said.

"You've reopened old wounds."

"They need to be reopened." Kyousuke looked up at her. "So they can finally heal."

Madoka sighed. "As much as it pains me, I know you're right."

"Still, I can't help thinking of her… alone…" Hikaru had never had a steady boyfriend. She had always flitted from one man to another. "She deserves better."

Madoka's jade eyes were full of sympathy. "That's a path she chose to take, Kyousuke. We can't decide it for her." She turned to collect the food tray, wishing to rid herself of the maudlin thoughts.

There was a knock on the door. It opened a crack, and a bespectacled person peered in.

"Helloooo," came the soft voice of a woman.

"Manami!" croaked Kyousuke.

"Onii-san!" she exclaimed, entering the room. "How are you?" Her face and clothes bore the marks of long travel.

"I've been better. What are you doing here?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Madoka interrupted. "I called your family as soon as we got here."

"I was the only one who could come, big brother," said Manami, putting her handbag on a side table and going to his side. Her eyes, big and brown, glistened behind her glasses. "Everyone was worried about you."

"Ah, this is nothing. The doctor says I can go by tomorrow."

"You have got to tell me what happened. It isn't every day you get yourself shot."

Kyousuke managed a wavering laugh. "You've got that right."

Manami gingerly touched the mass of bandages wound around his head. "Gee, they must've spent a week's supply of gauze on you."

"Yeah. It's to keep my brain from leaking out."

"Big brother!"

Madoka chuckled.

"Just kidding, Manami."

"Why don't you sit down and rest?" suggested Madoka. "You look tired."

"I came straight here from the airport. I almost didn't make my connecting flight." She gratefully crashed into a chair.

"What? No teleporting, no use of the Power?"

"Hello, brother. This is Manami speaking, not Kurumi. And I did teleport from the house to the terminal. I almost got caught by a janitor."

"Manami-chan, would you want anything?" Madoka paused by the door, hand on handle. "I'm going down to the cafeteria for a bit."

"Thanks. Anything's just fine, Madoka-san."

After the elder girl had left, Manami remarked, "Madoka-san looks like she hasn't slept for days."

"She's been here all the time," said Kyousuke. "Along with Hikaru."

"Hikaru-chan's here too?"

"She wanted to surprise us and followed us to the hotel we were staying in. Speaking of which," he added, propping himself up on his elbows, "I don't suppose you have somewhere to stay."

"Uh-uh." Manami shook her head.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to ask Mr. Pagott if you could stay in my room," thought Kyousuke.

"Not to worry, big brother. I've got enough moolah. That's why I was the only one to come. Oh, maybe Grandpa could have teleported us over here, but we couldn't contact him in time."

"Manami-chan? Come sit here for a minute."

She plonked her chair beside the bed. "Why?"

He told her the real reason he got shot. Manami's eyes grew big as she listened.

"Really? They knew about ESPers?" Her voice grew soft and grave. "I wonder what they wanted with you."

"Who knows? Maybe they wanted a lab rat. Maybe they wanted to use my powers for their own ends."

They talked for a few minutes, Kyousuke telling her all that had happened. "So you see, we should be even more careful about how we use our Power from now on."

Manami nodded.

There was a knock at the door. Madoka came in bearing a take-out box for Kyousuke's sister.

"Here you go."

"Thanks, Madoka-san." She opened the box and dug in.

Something abruptly came to the fore of Kyousuke's thought. "And Manami?"

"Hmm?"

"After I was shot I… I had a dream. About Mom. She said to tell you… to thank you for taking up the slack." He recalled Grandpa telling him how difficult it was for him to find her, in this timestream or any other, and was suddenly grateful.

Manami sat silently, waiting for him to continue.

"She says she misses you and Kurumi."

"Mom?"

Kyousuke nodded.

"Well. Well. I'm glad someone noticed," she murmured.

"Yeah, Manami. You've been housemothering us all this time… it's not that we don't notice, we just… forget to let you know how much we appreciate it, you know…"

"Oh, stop it, onii-chan. You're going to make me cry." She returned to her food with renewed ferocity.

--------

Early the next day a nurse came by and removed the bandages from Kyousuke's head, replacing it with a single pad bound with a strip of gauze taped around his forehead.

"Just great," he groaned. "I'm going to have a bald spot here."

Manami giggled. "Imagine that."

The nurse smiled at him. "It won't be that noticeable," she said in halting English.

Mr. Ayukawa, who had arrived along with his wife to replace Madoka and Hikaru, was sitting on the single couch for visitors. He patted his own thinning hair. "They say bald men are more virile."

"Then I guess I just got a little bit more virile myself," said Kyousuke, laughing.

The day passed along without incident. Madoka's parents busied themselves with getting Kyousuke discharged while Manami took care of her elder brother.

Around nine that evening he finally left the hospital, pale and still a little bit shaky but otherwise none the worse for wear. Madoka returned with Mr. Pagott himself to fetch him. They noted how effusive the hospital staff was in greeting him and accommodating his wishes. Then again, Kyousuke thought, he was probably one of their regular customers.

They all rode to the port in one of the rich man's stretch limos, a somewhat incongruous sight amidst the narrow cobbled city streets.

Kyousuke was wedged in between Madoka and Hikaru, while Mr. Pagott sat on Hikaru's left, nearest the door.

"You know," he said to Madoka, "ever since we arrived, I'm glad we've almost always faced the wrong way."

A puzzled look emerged on her face. "'Wrong way?' Are you sure you're over your concussion?"

He gestured eastwards, where the horizon seemed just the tiniest bit darker.

"Bosnia. So near, yet so far." In his mind's eye Kyousuke saw the bodies on the road again, the dead men, women and children, all killed in the name of country and religion.

Madoka said nothing, but squeezed his arm to show she understood. She had seen his photos.

Hikaru, who had heard, said "Sempai…," showing a sympathetic look on her face. But the fact that she had met him in Japan at the time while auditioning for a musical nagged at her mind.

She was about to comment on the fact when she noticed the old man beside her start. He had done so twice already. "Are you alright, sir?"

"What? Who is that? Hiyama-san?" His dark glasses pivoted in her direction.

"No need to be so formal with me. You can call me Hikaru."

"Hikaru, then. I keep smelling your perfume… I've dreamed once or twice about my wife already…"

"When did she die?" Hikaru's voice was all innocence, despite the abrupt manner of her questioning.

"A long time ago…. June 24, 1984. I will never forget that date. She died giving birth to our first child." His voice was quiet, husky.

"But then… your child didn't make it?"

He shook his head.

She looked at him and, although his expression was unreadable because of the round dark glasses he wore, felt his deep sorrow and loss. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It was one of those things," Andrei said cryptically. "I was out busy acquiring another company and only managed to arrive at her side before the end." He smiled a crooked smile. Bringing out his gold locket, he opened it and showed it to her. "This is her." Hikaru took it from him. The cameo inside was a delicate white, coral on a background of sardonyx. It showed a regal, fine-featured woman with shoulder-length, curly hair and thin, refined lips.

"She's very pretty."

"Yes, she was. My family—and hers—kept wondering why such a beautiful, intelligent woman would want a scruffy, wanderlust-bitten bum like me."

"Bum?" Although his face was lined and weather-beaten, she had decided that he must have been quite handsome when he was younger.

"I kept traveling. First over all of Italy, then the world. Being the young idealist I was, I found myself getting into things I should have left alone."

"So that's when you became a mercenary?"

A look of surprise crossed his face.

"Madoka-san told me," said Hikaru.

"Yes, I did. I wasn't at first. I flew supplies to the Biafran rebels in the beginning, assisting old Count von Rosen. But when he decided to help in the fighting, I decided to join him too." He shook his head. "It was a crazy time."

"You hijacked an airliner?"

"That was my second mission for the rebels. And yes, I met your friend's parents there." There was a pause. "We had precious few planes, so we decided to 'borrow' some from the Nigerians. We planned to release the passengers and crew after a day or two, but Seiji here kept begging me to release his wife. I could see she was well on the family way and, being the softie that I was, eventually gave in. I took my plane—Count von Rosen wasn't very pleased with that, I'll tell you—and flew them to Gabon, then went back to the war."

"I didn't know you were a pilot."

"I was. So was my father. He trained me, and that infected me with the wanderlust that made me travel all over the world."

As he told her the story, his mind wandered back into the past, back into the airport terminal where he had left the Ayukawas, back to when a younger Yoshiko Ayukawa, after bowing many times to him in thanks, impulsively threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you!" she had exclaimed in her halting English. "Please take care of yourself!"

He chuckled as he remembered the brouhaha that greeted him when he had arrived back at the airstrip that served as their home base. "I missed the first attack we made, thanks to these two. I never missed a sortie again."

"Sortie?"

"Mission. Sometimes I even flew alone, searching for targets by myself. Everyone kept telling me it was a bad idea. The Nigerians had far many more planes than we did, and newer ones too. My luck finally ran out when one discovered me and tried to shoot me down."

"But you're here now, so you escaped."

"Yes, but it was a near thing." In his mind, he began to relive that desperate struggle. "It was a Fouga Magister, a graceful, jet-powered twin-seater, armed with cannons. I was flying a propeller-driven Minicon, painted green with car paint, and armed only with a few rockets. I flew as low as I could above the trees, sometimes even between them. You know how a fish thrashes when it's hooked on a line but still keeps trying to get away?"

"Yeah."

"It was like that. I tried everything I could to lose him, but to no avail. He kept taking shots at me all the way back to Uli airfield. I was thinking I was never going to get away, that the last page of my life was already being written, when he suddenly flew past me, waved, and left. I later learned he had run out of ammunition."

"Ha!" yelled Hikaru, causing everyone else to jump in their seats. "Your luck didn't run out then. Good for you!"

"What are you talking about?" Kyousuke asked.

"Nothing much, just some old war stories," replied Andrei.

"So what did you do afterwards?"

"I grew disgusted with the futility of it all. Atrocities were being committed left and right by both sides. Everyone could also see that no matter how hard we tried, a handful of improvised attack planes just wasn't going to win the war. One morning I decided I had had enough and stowed away on a cargo plane, leaving Biafra behind forever."

"Where did you go?"

Andrei shrugged. "Back home, where else could I go? The money the Biafrans paid me was little more than enough to get me back here. Then I discovered when I arrived that my father had died the previous day."

There was a long and uncomfortable silence in the car. "I'm sorry I reminded you of that," said Hikaru sheepishly.

Andrei shook his head. "No, it's okay." He coughed once, then continued. "So I found myself having to manage my father's businesses, which he had left to me. Everything was so confusing I sometimes found myself wishing I had stayed in Africa rather than gone back home. But as time went by I found myself getting used to the position I held."

The limo arrived at the port, and after they had transferred to the ferryboat for the voyage to the Adriano, Hikaru sat herself beside him and prompted him to continue the rest of his story.

"Hikaru-san, why do you want to hear this old man's tale?"

"Nothing, I just find it interesting."

"And we want to hear it too," came a voice behind them. She looked up to see Madoka and Kyousuke taking the bench seats behind them.

Andrei laughed. "But there's not much else to tell. I stayed here for a few months, learning the ropes of the business. Then the wanderlust bit me again, and I left my company in the hands of a trusted relative. I went to Japan."

"Japan?" the young Japanese chorused.

"Yes. I visited your parents, Madoka-san, and they kindly allowed me to stay over at your house while I was there." He was quiet for a moment, and the sounds of the sea took over the silence vacated by his voice. "There's a lot more to be said about it, but I don't think I want to tell it to you youngsters. By the way, Kasuga, you should have seen your fiancé then. She was just a few months old, and very, very cute."

Kyousuke grinned at Madoka, who blushed. "Remember that episode we had with our childhood photos?" he reminded her. "I think I can imagine how she looked, sir."

Andrei continued. "Anyway, the long and short of it is I came down with pneumonia and your parents helped nurse me back to health. Then I left for Vietnam."

"Why'd you go to Vietnam?" Hikaru asked.

He sighed. "Old habits die hard. I went there thinking I could do some good. I signed up with the CIA-run Air America and began running cargo to different destinations. Sometimes it was Special Forces camps, sometimes Montagnard villages… I had a good time there. But I found that I couldn't stand the stink of the corruption that hovered around me, so after two years, I left again, this time returning home permanently. Soon after I returned I met Maria Christina again. We married, much to the displeasure of her family. Two years after that, she died."

"How sad," Madoka murmured.

"And basically that's it," said Andrei. "I've been here ever since."

_Growing richer and richer yet growing more alone than ever,_ Kyousuke thought.

"Ever since, I've devoted myself to my business. Even going blind didn't stop me. Even my getting sick couldn't stop me."

_Poor Mr. Pagott,_ thought Hikaru. _Work as an antidote to his sorrow._ "I'll sit beside you," she said, bright and girlish, "for the rest of the way."

"Why?" Andrei asked, puzzled.

"So you can smell my perfume, and dream of your wife…"

------oOo------

The raid had scared away many of the hotel's guests, but not everyone; there were those who, out of sheer foolhardiness or some other misanthrope, chose to stay. And Andrei said he didn't mind the loss much; he didn't really care whether the hotel earned money or not—that was what the rest of his companies were for. But he was exceedingly embarrassed at having put the Ayukawas and everyone else in danger; so in compensation he announced that they could stay as long as they liked free of charge.

Manami ended up moving into the room next to Kyousuke's, along with Hikaru, while her elder brother remained in his room for the next two days, slowly getting over the severe concussion he had sustained. More and more Madoka had to slap his hand away, so restless was he becoming. "Kyou-chan," she said in exasperation, "it's bad enough my parents know I'm staying here in your room. Don't make it worse, okay?" She tossed the bottle of iodine she had been holding down onto the small table beside his bed. "Goodness. And there I was, worrying about you all the time, you idiot. I guess I shouldn't have bothered."

Kyousuke, who had been sitting up while she daubed his wound with the dark fluid prior to changing the dressing, looked penitent. "Sorry, dear."

"Men!" There was a world of meaning in the single word. "You just got out of the sack, now you can't wait to get back in it." She sighed. "I'm sorry too. I've just been so worried about you these past few days."

"I know. When I dreamed about my mother, she told me… she told me you had killed a man… because of me."

"Don't remind me, please?" Madoka pleaded. "Seeing you fall like that… I thought I had truly lost you." She looked away from him.

He pulled her to him and embraced her. "I'm sorry you had to do that," he whispered. An image of an angel frantically washing herself at a fountain of the red spattered onto her wings and arms appeared in his mind._ My angel has blood on her hands, and all I can do is say 'I'm sorry…'_

------oOo------

Four days passed.

On the morning of the fifth, the form of Kyousuke Kasuga emerged from the room of Andrei Pagott. He squinted in the bright sunlight. "Ah," he breathed. "It's good to be up and about again."

"Everything alright, sir?" Cardiff, back in action, was standing outside the entrance.

The young man turned around. "Gad, you're a sight for sore eyes, old friend." He shook the butler's hand. "It's very nice to see you again. Very nice."

"What are you going to do now, sir?"

"Think and plan. I'm going to the gazebo to think about it. Don't let anyone disturb me."

"As you wish, sir."

"And stop calling me that, okay? Anyone who overhears us will get suspicious."

"Very well, young master."

His heart full of joy, the young man skipped along to the private—his private—part of the garden. Opening the white gate, he found a person already sitting there, in his sacred place, where his mother used to wait for his father before they were married.

_What in blazes…?_

Madoka Ayukawa, dressed in a dark-blue blouse and faded jeans, turned toward him as he approached, her green eyes cool, holding his gaze.

"Hello, Kyousuke… or should I say, Godfather?"

"Madoka? Is that you?" he breathed. "I was right." He sat down in the gazebo opposite her. "You're very beautiful. It's no wonder Kyousuke fell for you."

"Thank you." The smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"You know it's me, then?"

"Of course. You have a different air about you."

"What are you doing here? I've punished people for coming in here uninvited before."

She shrugged. "I came here to think. No one told me this place was supposed to be off-limits."

"Think? About what?"

"What my mother told me." Her gaze never wavered from him. "I did a little asking around, you see."

"And?" prompted Andrei, knowing full well what was coming.

"She told me… you almost had an affair with her while you were in Japan."

He was silent for a while. "That is true. But somewhere along the way to perdition, I saw you in your crib; it was like someone had poured cold water on me. In an instant I realized what I was about to do and did the only manly thing I could… I ran out the door."

"That's why you got the pneumonia."

The vague memories of his fever and of Yoshiko hovering over him, a worried look on her face, flooded back into his mind. He nodded.

She turned towards him. "Why did she make you my godfather?"

"I don't know myself."

"Perhaps she still holds a place in her heart for you. Not that it's any of my business." She couldn't keep the frostiness out of her voice. "No wonder my father looks funny at you sometimes."

"I've kept my distance. Your father knows nothing happened, except for my foolish lust for your mother. And besides—sinner that I am—am I not paying for it even as we speak?"

His niece averted her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound judgmental."

He waved a hand. "It's alright."

"Uncle," she said, changing the subject matter, "I didn't want Kyousuke to know it, but I'm concerned about your deal with him."

"Twenty-four hours, Madoka. That's how long I have. That's all. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to sit here and think about how I'm going to spend them."

She nodded and stood up. "As you wish." Bowing, she walked out of the garden, closing the gate shut behind her.

In the gazebo, Andrei expelled a sigh of relief. She had a personality as strong as she was beautiful, but she was still a woman nevertheless, and still young. Maybe she would realize one day that one could not dictate the vanities of one's heart _all_ the time. But at least that was out in the clear.

"Yep," he said to the sea breeze, leaning his borrowed body against the seat back. "Chasing skirts gets me into trouble alright."

------oOo------

After she left the garden, Madoka headed for Andrei Pagott's room, where she knew she would find Kyousuke—now an old man. She looked at the flower box as she passed it. The blooms were no longer there, having been turned under into the soil and the whole thing replanted. She didn't want to look hard enough to see if there were spots of blood still remaining.

"Kyousuke?" she said to the figure propped up against the pillows in the wide, cream-linen-covered bed.

"Who is that?"

"It's me." She came over and sat on the bed. "How are you?"

The old, husky voice answered her. "It's not so bad. But there's this ache in my chest that won't go away."

She placed a hand on his brow. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Yes, I am."

"What was that crack about 'atonement' you made a while ago upstairs?"

The sightless man turned to her. "I made you suffer."

"And you feel you've got to make up for it?" she said, her voice rising. "In this manner?"

Kyousuke had forgotten how good she was at reading his thoughts. He nodded.

"You're a bigger fool than I thought." She took his hand in hers. "_Anata_, you didn't have to do this."

"It's a matter of honor," he replied, in a tone she rarely heard him use, one that brooked no argument.

"If you don't mind, I'll stay here while you're in that body."

"Careful, people will notice."

"Then let them, damn it."

"Have you seen An—I mean, your godfather?"

"He's in the garden thinking about how to spend the twenty-four hours you gave him."

"No one but Cardiff knows about this, so I will have to keep out of sight as much as possible."

"You want me to tell Manami-chan?"

"Yes. But tell her not to worry, that I'm all right, and that she should enjoy her stay here." He scratched his head, the gesture seeming rather difficult to do. "I can't have the two of you fretting over me in this room."

She adjusted a pillow behind his back. "It's a good thing your grandfather sent that soul-switching rope."

"Too true. I didn't relish the thought of knocking heads again so soon."

------oOo------

That afternoon the small group and the rest of the hotel patrons enjoyed a routine put on by the Frecce Tricolori, the Italian Air Force's aerobatic team. Andrei had, through a friend, arranged it some days before. They stood on the veranda overlooking the jetty and watched as the handsome dark blue jets with the tricolor red-white-green trim performed in the skies above the Adriano.

"Far out!" exclaimed Hikaru after one noisy low formation pass, face alive with delight. "A hotel with its own airshow!"

"Yeah," Manami agreed. The sunlight reflected off her glasses. "Wish Dad and Kurumi were here to see this."

While everyone was absorbed watching the sky, Hikaru spied her sempai walking unobtrusively out of the hotel lobby. She was glad to see him okay, and walked towards him with the intention of greeting him a good afternoon. As she neared, she gave him her usual smile. "Hi!"

The look Kyousuke gave her, one bereft of any recognition, left her puzzled. But it was not as mystifying and alarming as his reply.

"Hello. Do I know you?"


	5. Retrograde Aging

**RETROGRADE AGING**

"Sempai! You've got to be kidding me! Did the blow to your head give you amnesia too?"

"Oh. Oh! Hello, Hikaru-san."

_Hikaru-_san_? What is wrong with him?_ "Sempai…"

"I–I'm sorry, Hikaru. I'm not feeling well right now…"

"Then you should go back to your room and rest. Do you want me to call Madoka-san?"

A chagrined look appeared on his face. "No… no, I'll be fine. Maybe it's all this noise and excitement." He put his hands in his pockets. "I think I'll just go down by the water for a while. Excuse me."

He brushed past her with no more regard than he would give an ant in his way.

Incredibly baffled and not a little hurt at his actions, Hikaru watched him descend the stairs leading to the pier. Her stage-trained senses were sounding alarms. His body language didn't seem right. The way he talked didn't seem the same. Even the shiftiness in his eyes, well, that wasn't like him.

A thought dawned. What if he had had a tiff with Madoka? That would explain why he seemed ill at ease and wanted to be alone. Again the solicitous side of her went into high gear… How could she help?

She made the decision to follow him and see where he went. She hurried back to where she had been standing with Manami watching the airshow and retrieved her handbag. "Manami-chan, I'm going to talk to your brother for a while, okay?"

"Anything wrong?" asked the bespectacled girl, noting the flustered expression on her face.

"I don't know, that's what I'm going to find out."

Manami watched as she swiftly retraced her steps to the stairs. Then she completely forgot about her as another Tricolori jet roared past the hotel, so close it almost seemed like she could reach out and touch it.

------oOo------

_Now where could he be?_ Hikaru asked herself, scanning the area. There was nowhere else for him to go, except the ferry that was offloading a bunch of passengers, all staring upward at the bright blue sky filled with puffy white clouds. _Maybe he rode on it._ She rushed down to the vessel and hopped on. She spotted him sitting far forward in the vessel, and took pains to choose a seat that would conceal her, yet enable her to keep an eye on him.

_Where's he going?_ she wondered. _And why didn't he tell us? Why didn't he tell _me She had nothing in the way of a disguise except a scrunched-up baseball cap in her handbag and a pair of shades. She put those on, stuffing as much of her blond hair under the cap as possible, and applied a little make-up and lipstick, hoping it would throw him off if he ever casually glanced her way.

She endured the trip in silence, resisting the urge to go and confront him, which was her usual way of solving problems. The look on his face told her, however, that he was in no mood for company just yet. That usually wouldn't have stopped her, but there was something else about him, something that she couldn't put a finger on, that warned her to stay away.

As the ferryboat disgorged its load on arrival, she lost sight of him in the crowd and hastily pushed her way through the madding throng. She caught a glimpse of someone who seemed like Kyousuke entering a long limousine waiting outside the debarkation area. As soon as the door shut it pulled away from the curb and sped off.

Luckily, there was an empty cab passing by. She hailed it and, in her limited Italian, ordered the cabbie to 'follow that car.' Nodding, the driver stepped on the gas and chased the limo, which was conspicuous enough in the street for anyone to notice.

He seemed to wander aimlessly through the city, pausing at various establishments. Every time he went on foot she followed, having struck a deal with the cab driver to wait for her return. She watched as he talked animatedly with one shopkeeper. She was too far away to hear what he was saying, so at his next stop—a small bookseller's—she quietly snuck into the store to listen to what he was saying.

Pretending to browse through the antique editions lining the shelves of the small shop, she heard his voice at the counter talking with the bookseller with a fluency that baffled her.

_I never knew he was so good in Italian_, she thought. As she tried to inch closer, her open-toed sandals squeak-squeaked on the polished stone floor.

The sound caused Kyousuke to look up in her direction. He caught sight of her. She froze for a moment, and saw his eyes flash in seeming recognition. Lowering her gaze, she hurriedly exited the store, running around the corner towards her taxi. She dove into the back seat and risked a peek through the windows.

She saw Kyousuke run to the street corner and stop, looking in all directions, having evidently lost her trail. Then he returned slowly the way he came, glancing back time and again.

She blew a big sigh and found the cab driver watching her with a bemused expression. "Lover?" he said in English.

"Yes," she replied. "No-good lover."

After visiting several more stores, Kyousuke's limousine threaded its way through the city streets and out into a countrified area, where it stopped in front of a large building that, she guessed correctly, was a hotel. She watched as her sempai exited the limo and disappeared into the hotel lobby. She paid the cab fare and dismounted, walking as casually as she could after him.

_Calm down, Hikaru,_ she told herself. _Don't give yourself away. Breathe, girl, breathe._ By now her curiosity was so peaked one couldn't have pulled her off the chase no matter what.

She scanned the lobby. There he was, at the reception desk, talking to the concierge, a large bag slung over his shoulder.

_Why was he here?_ It was all so confusing to her. She watched as he disappeared into a nearby corridor. Not wanting to lose sight of him, she followed.

At the end of the very short corridor was a set of white double doors. She saw him pause in front of them, as if debating whether to enter them or not. She stepped out into the middle of the passageway, fully intending to stride up to him and ask him what he was doing. The shock might just cause him to blurt out the truth.

She started forward and was instantly given away by her noisy footwear.

Kyousuke turned around. "Hi–Hikaru!" His eyes were as big as saucers. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, I was going to ask you the same thing." She folded her arms across her chest and stood there, tapping one foot. "Sempai."

Andrei—for, unbeknownst to Hikaru, it was really he—blanched and put a hand to the back of his head with a scratching motion, uttering a sheepish laugh.

Had he known, he was behaving exactly as Kyousuke would.

"What's this all about?" she strode towards him, trying to sound neutral. An angry light was growing in her eyes, however. "Something underhanded, I suppose."

Kyousuke shook his head. "No, nothing like that!"

"Well, I'm giving you one chance to explain this, then I'm calling Madoka-san."

"There's a perfectly good explanation," Kyousuke stammered, "but I doubt you'd believe it."

"Oh, try me, sempai." Hikaru stopped an inch away from touching him. "I'm ready to believe _anything_. Like the time we met in Tokyo when everyone else thought you were missing in Bosnia. Remember that?"

Naturally, Andrei didn't, and the confusion written on his face served to further rouse Hikaru's suspicions. Impulsively she grabbed the lapels of his shirt and yanked him towards her. "Now talk!"

"Couldn't we talk about this somewhere else?" he choked, wondering how to get away without attracting attention from the people in the hotel lobby. Some were already looking their way.

"No funny stuff." She tightened her grip, smiling devilishly.

"Alright! Come with me, I'll explain everything."

Hikaru released him. Kyousuke rubbed his neck. _The nerve of this girl,_ he thought.

Though she appeared to be fuming outwardly, Hikaru had just suddenly realized she was strangling Kyousuke, Darling of her youth, and quickly let him go. Her knees felt weak._ Not after all these years…_ Inwardly, she was trembling.

"I'm waiting."

Kyousuke/Andrei led her across the lobby to the hotel elevator. They got in and he pressed the button for the uppermost floor. Andrei felt her presence and the elevator cab all of a sudden seemed cramped.

The doors opened to reveal an opulently-furnished suite.

"You must be rolling in money, Kyousuke-sempai," Hikaru breathed. "This has to cost a fortune."

"Money means nothing to me," Kyousuke growled, his voice sounding harsh. Deep inside he knew this interruption was fatal to his plans.

They exited the elevator.

"Okay, I let you drag me here," said Hikaru, pausing her walk. "Now you'd better explain what's going on."

Kyousuke continued on to the nearby wet bar and took a bottle of wine from a small refrigerator. He opened it, poured portions into two long-stemmed glasses, and carried them back. Giving one glass to her, he leaned close to Hikaru and spoke.

"I guess it's a hell of a time to tell you this," he whispered, the scent of his cologne tickling her nose. She shivered. "But I'm not Kyousuke."

------oOo------

Hikaru sniffed. "Can't you come up with something better than that?" Her eyes roved, took in the lines of Kyousuke's face, the earnestness of his eyes, the cut of his chin… Turning away from him, she drank some of the wine.

_Easy, girl. Don't let him get to you._ The image of a scowling Madoka steadied her.

"It's the truth. Believe it or not, Hikaru-chan." She listened, still with her back turned, as Andrei told her about his deal with Kyousuke.

"Of course I don't believe you," she said in reply. "I'm not the same gullible fool whose heart you played with before." She snapped her mouth shut. She hadn't intended to sound so bitter, hadn't meant for him to see how much he had hurt her. "Where's the phone?"

"Over there." Kyousuke jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

Hikaru walked over and fished a tiny address book out from her walking shorts. Andrei watched as she tried to contact Madoka. After some minutes, she hung up.

"She's not in her room," she said, talking to herself.

"Hikaru-chan, remember when you first came to the Adriano?"

"What?"

Kyousuke took an idle sip of his wine. "Remember the old man at the top of the stairs? Remember him asking you about your perfume?"

Hikaru looked at him. "How'd you know that? He told you, didn't he?"

Kyousuke's gaze bore down upon her steadily. "Jessamine. That was my wife's perfume, Hikaru-chan." He slowly walked to her and, setting his glass down on the bar, cupped her face in his hands. "Thank you for letting me dream of her."

"I… I…"

He bent down and kissed her.

Hikaru's legs buckled and threatened to collapse under her. A sweet fire coursed through her veins as she found herself kissing him back.

"No! Stop it!" With an effort she tore herself away from him. A hand flew out and slapped him on the cheek.

Her breath came in ragged gasps. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Kyousuke rubbed his face. Somehow he didn't seem angry or offended. There was, instead, an understanding look in his eyes.

"What is wrong with you, Kyousuke?" Hikaru's voice was several pitch levels higher and several decibels louder. "Is this how you plan on silencing me? By seducing me?"

"I don't seduce screaming women," he said. "Now listen, Hikaru: do you think Kasuga would really do what I just did to you?"

She managed to calm down a bit as she considered what he said. "No… but you were always a bit of a weirdo…"

"I'm doing this because I'm trying to pound the fact that I'm not Kasuga into your head, which seems to be quite thick at the moment." He looked at her and repeated: "I… am… not… Kasuga!" The last came out as a shout.

Hikaru was beginning to have the sinking feeling he was telling the truth. It would explain a whole lot of strange things she had witnessed, growing up around Kyousuke and his family. The tennis court incident. That fuzzy recollection she used to have ever since her fifteenth summer of being in his body in a public bath. And more recently, his bizarre behavior at the Adriano. His fluency in Italian. A thousand little things, insignificant when taken one by one, yet when put together, composing a picture of an unbelievable, but undeniably plausible, reality.

"Supposing I believe you…" she began.

"Look. I don't care whether you believe me or not. You go ahead and call Madoka and tell her everything. Tell her you know Kyousuke's secret, tell her you know he's an ESPer. See how she'll react." He turned away from her and reached for his wineglass. "Impertinent girl," she heard him grumble. He finished the remaining liquid in a single gulp. "Want to hear her lie, Hikaru? Want to hear her say you must be mistaken, when you're so obviously not?"

"Why… why would she do that?"

"Because it's supposed to be a secret!" Andrei all but yelled at her. "To protect Kasuga, it has to be kept a secret. Otherwise…"

"Otherwise what?" Her voice was very small.

"Otherwise, they'll have to disappear from your life. Move away, to where no one knows about his power." He sighed. "Do you want that to happen?"

She shook her head. "Of course not."

"Then please listen to me and keep your silence. I am not Kyousuke Kasuga. I am Andrei Pagott, the old man you met on the stairs. Kasuga gave me this chance to experience life one last time… before I have to return to that blind shell that is my real body." Feeling somehow drained by the exchange, he shuffled over to and sat down on a bar stool.

Hikaru followed his lead and sat beside him, seemingly dazed. "I… you know, I think I'm starting to believe you."

"Drink." Obediently she took a swallow from her glass and looked at him.

"I'm sorry I did that," he said.

"What?"

"The kiss. All the melodramatics."

"You're sorry you kissed me?" Andrei looked at Hikaru. She didn't quite seem to be in control of herself.

"Hey, you ever wanted to be kissed by a dirty old man?"

"But you're not a dirty old man now," she pointed out.

"A dirty young man, then," Andrei said dismissively.

"But why… why did you do that?"

"So you'd listen. I know it's hard to accept this situation, but I had to somehow make you listen."

Hikaru toyed with her glass, swirling the wine. "I almost can't bear what you did… I think I'm going to go crazy… it's too painful."

"Painful?"

Her blue eyes flashed both anger and despair. "Sempai… sempai's the one thing I… oh, you wouldn't understand. Everything gets handed to you on a silver platter."

A pair of familiar yet strange eyes regarded her coolly. "Like you said: Try me. You're right, though. Everything gets handed to me on a silver platter. Including the deaths of my wife and only son."

Hikaru, feeling put on and simply overwhelmed, began to cry, fat droplets emerging from her eyes and dripping onto the bar.

"Hey, hey," said Andrei, splashing more alcohol into her wineglass. "I said I was sorry. But what you said was unfair."

Sniffling, Hikaru set her glass down and made to leave. "My mistake. I'll guess I'll go blubber somewhere else."

"Hikaru-chan. You don't need to go." When she continued towards the elevator, he went after her and held her by the shoulders until he could feel the tension within her subside. "I really am sorry."

"I try to keep my feelings for sempai under wraps, all for Madoka-san's sake," she said quietly. "And here you are, suddenly turning my dreams into a nightmare." She looked down at the floor. "You don't know how much I've wanted to kiss him again. Just a kiss. One tiny kiss…" Her words dissolved into sobs.

One kiss, and one kiss only, to fill an ocean of emotion. Andrei closed his eyes—Kyousuke's eyes—and felt the woman's pain as an echo of his own. He hugged her in his arms and let her cry against his chest.

------oOo------

He stood there for several minutes, until she calmed down and pushed herself away from him. Retrieving a handkerchief from her pocket, she asked if she could use the bathroom.

"By all means," Andrei told her.

After being in the bathroom for several minutes, Hikaru emerged looking as if she had aged a few years. She had doffed her baseball cap, and her shoulder-length orange-gold hair hung down limply, framing her wan face. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, and her lips were pale from her having bitten down on them.

Andrei stared aghast at her woeful appearance. "Hikaru-chan… Let me make it up to you," he said, grasping her hands.

"I'd rather go," she said listlessly. "I don't think your plans included nursemaiding me."

"Ah, they all went out the window the moment you discovered me." He smiled weakly. "I think we could both use the company."

"But what help could I be to you?"

"Well, I don't get to go out with pretty girls on dates nowadays," he said lightly.

His audacity got a rise out of her, enough to make her cheeks color. "You're asking me for a date? After what you've done? I don't even know you!"

"I don't know you too, so that makes us even."

"A–and it's unfair," she continued. "You're in sempai's body."

"And how is that unfair to you?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

She stamped her foot. "Do you need it spelled out? What sort of a man are you, forcing a girl to say things she doesn't want to say?"

Chastised, Andrei hastily rejoined, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I get the general idea." He knocked back another glass of wine. "So, it's a date?"

Hikaru stared at him. "I've got to be nuts," she mumbled. "Fine, then. Have it your way. I won't promise to be a good sport about it."

"We don't have much time," Andrei stated, moving to the telephone. "Why don't we get you a couple of clothes to wear, then go out to eat?"

"Your call, Mr. Pagott."

"Please, call me Andrei for tonight. I'm not much older than you now."

"Whatever."

Andrei made a few calls as Hikaru sat on the nearby blue sofa and poured herself more wine. Then he sat down beside her, to await further developments, as he said.

"What can I do to cheer you up?" he asked, noting the slight flush on her cheeks.

Hikaru wondered at his seemingly genuine solicitousness. "I don't know."

"Then could you answer me this? How did you meet Kasuga anyway?"

"It was in junior high," replied Hikaru. "At first I wasn't on friendly terms with him. Then I saw him make an incredible basketball shot. I thought he must be way cool and convinced myself I had found my 'Darling'. To cap it all, later on I was running down the corridor, turned a corner and bumped into him, accidentally kissing him." She smiled a crooked smile, reminiscing. "But the infatuation soon turned to something genuine. Little did I realize that it was mostly one-sided. He had already fallen for Madoka-san."

She slouched further into the cushions. "They didn't want to hurt my feelings, so they kept their relationship a secret until it was far too late for me to give him up so easily."

Andrei nodded. "Yes," he said, "I heard about it from Madoka."

"Oh? What did she say?"

"Not much. Just that she wished there was a way for you to stay friends even though… well, you know."

Hikaru was warmed by the thought of Madoka's concern. "I don't know how we do it," she said, half to herself, half to Andrei. "Stay friends, I mean. Even though we both love the same man. I could talk about anything with her before… now I have to watch what I say." She sighed. "Some topics have become unmentionable for us. I guess we're both afraid of offending and losing one another." She reached out and tenderly laid a hand on Kyousuke's cheek. "And I can't seem to let go of you­—I mean him."

"All the same, you shouldn't live in the past, Hikaru-chan."

"I haven't," she replied. "But I've yet to meet a man who really catches my fancy. They… all seem to slide off me like butter in a hot pan."

"That's probably because you're here—" he tapped the side of her head— "but not here," he finished, pointing at her heart. "Men aren't stupid. They can feel that."

As she reflected on what he had said, he added, "Speaking of butter, I know this little place by the seaport that serves great lobster. We could go there, if you want."

"You're the boss."

Andrei frowned. "Your words don't exactly fill me with enthusiasm."

She shook her head. "Sorry." A slender index finger came up to press against the middle of her chest. "I guess I'm still not 'here,' as you say."

"A date with a fake Kasuga," he mused. "I guess that's all I can offer you."

The phone beeped, and he went to answer it. After some words he replaced the receiver.

"Let's go. The limo is waiting downstairs."

"Where?"

"Let's get you some toiletries, then eat."

She nodded, and together they left the suite.

------oOo------

"Can I ask you something?"

They had finished buying what little Hikaru said she needed, some clothes and stuff that she had wanted to purchase herself. But Andrei insisted on paying for it all, producing wads of cash from a fat wallet. "A little insurance," he had told her. "No one knows I'm on the lam save for my butler." Now she was garbed in a royal-blue long-sleeved blouse and chaleco patterned with lots of tiny squares of cloth of different colors, while a chartreuse skirt hugged her thighs. Her feet were shod in two-inch designer heels. She had wanted to argue with him about being them being too expensive, but he waved away her concern as if it were beneath him.

"What?"

"Why'd you go to that hotel?"

Andrei leaned back against the seat and stared into the ceiling of the passenger compartment. "Memories."

"Memories?"

"You noticed that hotel was built near a cliff?"

Hikaru nodded.

"We used to meet there, Maria and I, before we were married." Somewhere beyond the incandescent glow of the car's ceiling light he beheld her once again, her fine, curly golden hair fluttering in the wind, her skin shining in the sunlight, her thin lips in a wide, earnest smile. "She would sneak out of her house to meet me. We used to spend the whole day there. I was going to walk up there, but…" He shrugged.

"You must miss her very much."

"I do." He closed his eyes slowly. "I can only hope we'll somehow meet again. Ah, now I'm the one living in the past too much."

Hikaru felt a surge of pity for him. At least Kyousuke-sempai was still around. Andrei had nothing but money left to console him for his dark, comfortless days and nights.

Her hand crept onto his forearm. "You're sure the restaurant we're going to serves good lobster?"

Nodding, he turned to her. "Why?"

She managed a small smile. "Because all of a sudden I'm very hungry."

------oOo------

She wasn't kidding. Andrei marveled at her appetite. So far she had consumed a lobster, one delicately-sauced trout whose flesh melted in the mouth, two slices of pizza, two bowls of seafood chowder, and a plate of rainbow-colored salad, washing everything down with copious amounts of the sweet wine that he had selected for them.

"Slow down there, girl. You might get a stomachache," he warned.

"I guess you're right," she agreed.

"Don't you worry about getting fat?"

She shook her head and smiled at him. "Nope. I burn it all off. High metabolism." She posed momentarily in her chair, showing off the curves of her dancer's body, which she still kept in shape. Nevertheless, she slowed down in her eating.

Andrei guffawed. It was good to see her regaining her spirits. "I'm glad you seem happier."

"You know the saying, misery loves company," she admitted, not sounding miserable at all. "Well, at least _someone_ knows how I feel. It's just too bad what I'm feeling isn't so good. And anyway," she added mischievously, "I get a free meal."

"Hah!" Andrei exclaimed. "You think you're the only one who can put it away? Watch me!" In short order he had roughly matched her food consumption, and was proceeding to exceed it, when she threw up her hands in surrender.

"Alright!" she laughed. "You've proven it already! Stop now or you might be the one to burst at the seams."

They talked on for quite a while, warming to each other's company. It was late in the evening when Andrei asked for the bill.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't know. You?"

"How about a night on the town? I haven't done that…"

"…in a long time, I know," Hikaru finished for him. "Let's go, then."

They paid the bill and exited the restaurant. As they waited at curbside for the limousine to pick them up, Andrei felt her take his hand in her own. He turned to her questioningly, but she was looking up at the stars.

------oOo------

Back at the Adriano a worried Madoka looked out into the same night sky.

"You think too much, dear," came the voice from the figure in the wheelchair beside her.

Madoka reached down and gently laid a hand on the forearm of the tired body which contained Kyousuke Kasuga. His hand covered hers.

"Oh, it's nothing. He just left without telling us what he'd be doing. And, Kyousuke?"

"Yes?"

"It's a powerful lure, isn't it? To be able to walk and see again… I'm worried he might have such a good time he'll decide not to come back anymore."

"Madoka, I don't think he's that kind of a person."

It felt so strange, she thought, having a conversation like this and hearing a stranger's voice in place of Kyousuke's. She looked back out at the night sky, scattered with stars.

"If you say so."

------oOo------

Andrei turned around as he felt someone tap his shoulder. Hikaru saw a large, unshaved man with beetling brows and wearing a windbreaker address him in Italian. She felt Andrei tense.

"Ojisama?" she inquired. Something in the stranger's eyes put her instantly on guard.

"Hikaru," came Andrei's low voice. "Back away. Now."

As she took a step backward, the man produced a switchblade from his pants pocket and flicked it open. The three-inch blade flashed silver under the street lights.

Without warning Andrei grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it, causing the knife to fall from his grasp. His free hand slugged the man in the stomach. As the attacker doubled up in pain, Andrei brought his elbow down on the extended arm, breaking the joint. The man screamed and dropped to the pavement. Andrei wasted no time in kicking him in the head until he fell unconscious.

A sudden scream caused him to spin around. Another, smaller man, no doubt a companion of the first, had come up on Hikaru and grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her side. She struggled to free herself from his grasp.

"Andrei—!"

He sighed and produced his wallet. In a gesture of surrender, he indicated to the mugger that he was going to toss it over to him.

Whatever further plans he had were spoiled, however, when Hikaru stabbed her heel into the man's foot. He yelled in pain and released her, hopping away, clutching his injured member. She aimed a kick at his other leg and was rewarded with the sight of him falling heavily on the pavement.

"Oh no, you aren't going to get me this time," she hissed, her voice trembling. She made a slashing motion with her right hand. It was New York all over again.

Andrei went and stood over the man, growling something, the only word of which Hikaru understood was 'kill,' but his message seemed clear enough. His raised his foot, clearly intending to smash it down on the man's jaw.

Hikaru rushed to his side and pulled him away. "You don't need to do that!" she shouted.

Andrei turned to look at her. There was a savage look on his face, and for a moment she feared he was going to turn on her.

"Andrei…"

"I haven't dealt with scum like these in a long while," he rumbled. "They're getting better than they deserve." He contented himself with kicking the smaller man in the stomach, causing him to curl up in pain.

"Enough!" snapped Hikaru. "Look, here comes the limo. Let's just get out of here." She smiled a sheepish smile at some watching bystanders as she hustled her date into the car.

"That was totally uncalled for," she scolded him as soon as they were safely away. "Were you intending to kill that man?"

Kyousuke looked at her with undisguised scorn in his eyes. "You don't know this town like I do. Had you been alone, they wouldn't have been content with just taking your money, you know."

"Still, you didn't need to injure them further," she insisted.

Andrei shrugged. "Well, we'll just have to disagree on that issue," he said.

She slid away from him on the seat. "I never knew you were so violent."

"I'm a passionate man," he stated. "Unfortunately for them."

"I thought you were a civilized man," she shot back at him.

"Yeah? You don't get to where I am by being all soft and namby-pamby. In your case, those two would be enjoying you by now in some dark alley."

Memories of her kidnappings in Hawaii and New York came flooding back into Hikaru's mind. She shivered. "Don't say that."

Angrily, Andrei shook his head. The kill-lust was slowly subsiding, and some sense was finally leaking into his brain. "Sorry, then. Let's just put that incident behind us. I've only got… sixteen hours left."

They rode on in silence, Andrei having given the driver his instructions.

"You enjoy hurting people?" Hikaru asked him.

Andrei cast her a malignant glance. "That's a stupid question. Of course not. I do whatever I need to survive, though."

"You know what I think? I think you hurt people because you're hurt too."

"Boohoo." The limo pulled up in front of an establishment with a big neon rose decorating its entrance, along with the sign 'The Red Flower' beneath it. "You coming?" He jumped out and held the door for her. She chose to exit on the other side.

A few choice words and a few choice bills facilitated their entrance into the disco. Hikaru gazed in wonder at the cavernous interior, filled with a sea of people, all dancing the night away to the synthesized throb of dance music.

They headed for the dance floor right away.

"Look," said Andrei, "I'm sorry if you don't agree with what I did. But that's the way I am."

Hikaru didn't respond right away. "It was upsetting." Her tone was carefully neutral.

"I know. I wasn't always the chatty old man you see at the Adriano." His voice grew softer. "That's why you always hear me saying I'm paying for my past sins."

Suddenly the music changed into a slower number, one that sent couples moving closer to one another.

The pair looked at each other uneasily.

"Let's just forget about it, like you said," she replied in response to his unspoken question. "Let's just dance the night away."

She put her arms around his neck and leaned against him.

------oOo------

In the middle of the song Andrei suddenly blurted out, "I guess it's our chance."

"Chance?"

"To live out our fantasies, just for this night."

"Fantasies?" murmured she, half-lost in one of her own. "What's your fantasy? To dance with me?"

He nodded. "I haven't danced with… with a pretty girl like you for a long, long time."

She blushed and looked down at her feet. Suddenly she found it being tilted upwards by a gentle hand under her chin. A warm pair of lips planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey, is that okay with you, Hikaru-chan? Being with me?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said, her voice husky with emotion. "Yes it is."

"What's your fantasy?" Andrei quietly asked in his turn.

She shook her head, not wanting to put it into words.

"Let me guess. Unless I'm mistaken, it has something to do with Kasuga."

"Well, of course it does," she admitted reluctantly.

"That's all right, Hikaru-chan, but don't go hurting yourself over him again," Andrei warned her.

They swayed with the music for a few minutes, until the piece ended and they found themselves staring at each other. With silent inevitability their faces came closer. Hikaru closed her eyes.

The moment was unforgivably interrupted by the DJ, who chose that exact time to switch to a techno track. The wall of sound startled them apart. Andrei glared murder at him, but the man had his back to them.

Hikaru still had a faint pink coloring her cheeks. "Whoops," she chuckled, embarrassed.

"You know, you can still show me how good you can dance," said Andrei.

Grinning, she whacked him on the shoulder. "You're on!"

------oOo------

Returning to Andrei's hotel sometime in the wee hours of the morning, the pair stumbled happily into the suite.

"That was fun," he remarked, a wide smile on his face. He dove into the sofa.

"It sure was," agreed Hikaru, landing beside him. "Whoo, am I sweaty." She fanned herself by pulling her blouse to and fro.

Andrei gulped as he caught a glimpse of her bra. His mind raced, thinking of soft, feminine white lace encasing softest white flesh. Angrily he shook his head. He had promised himself not to be a wolf tonight. Especially with this girl, whose feelings for the man whose body he resided in were still strong but as delicate as eggshell china. "Uh, I think I'll take a shower."

"Can I use your bath?"

"Sure, there's another room over there." Andrei pointed away to his left. "It's all yours." He stood up and pulled his shirt over his head.

Hikaru blushed as she found herself facing a half-naked Kyousuke Kasuga. She quickly turned her back and fled for the safety of the bath.

_Really, Hikaru,_ a voice in her mind nagged her. _It's not like you haven't seen a man's body_ _before. And far more _au naturel _too._

Upon reaching the bathroom, she closed the door and took a look at herself in the huge wall-mounted mirror. "Go on," she chided her reflection. "Say you still love him."

The girl in the mirror stared silently back at her.

She turned on the taps to fill the bathtub and stripped, dumping her clothes near the sink. Looking down at her body, she tried to imagine herself walking over to Andrei—Kyousuke—and lying down next to him, naked flesh to naked flesh. Running her fingers over his skin. Her mouth pressing on his, hot and sweet. Her hips moving against his…

She sighed and thumped the back of her head against the wall. Crossing her arms across her chest, she waited impatiently for the tub to fill.

------oOo------

She spent a couple of hours in the bath, letting her tension soak away into the hot, perfumed water. When she emerged, clad in a fluffy towel wound sarong-style around her and another wrapped around her head, Andrei was already sitting in the living room, dressed in shirt and walking shorts, waiting for her.

"Ah!" he said. "You took a bath? Already?" His face had a vaguely scandalized expression on it.

Hikaru looked down at herself and realized the towel barely reached past her crotch. She pressed it against her. "Kyaa!" she exclaimed. "Don't look!"

Andrei turned his head away. "Oh, come on," he protested. "You don't have anything that I haven't seen before."

Hikaru threw her laundry at him. It smacked into the back of his head and covered him in a fall of fabric. "Well, it's still mine, all the same! And I don't want you to see!"

Andrei idly brushed the blouse off his face, smelling her scent in the cloth, mixed in with her sweat and the lingering fragrance of jessamine. _Women_. Something hung on his right ear that refused to be removed with a simple sweep of his hand. He tugged it loose and found himself looking at a cream-colored thong. He let go of it like a hot potato and quickly gathered her clothes up into a ball, tossing them far away from him.

"I thought you might still like to go out," he called after her. She had ducked into the nearest room, out of his sight.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm too tired to go out anymore."

"That's okay. It's too late to go anywhere worthwhile, anyway."

A few minutes later she emerged from her bedroom, brushing her still-wet hair. She had changed into a t-shirt and short denim shorts. Her bare feet shuffled on the dark brown carpet.

She sat down on the sofa beside Andrei, who had fallen to watching CNN.

"You aren't sleepy yet?" she asked him, tucking her legs underneath her. The clock on the wall read 2:38 AM in glowing green numbers.

He shook his head. "Who can sleep at a time like this?" He changed the channel.

"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" Her voice was coy.

Andrei chortled at her, gesturing towards the TV. "Hey, don't flatter yourself. I haven't been able to watch TV for six years now."

"Oh." She seemed a little crestfallen. "That says something about my desirability," she commented lightly.

Andrei laughed. "Ah, Hikaru-chan, don't sell yourself short on that point. You aren't intent on _that_, are you?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

She waved her hands in front of her. "Ah, no, of course not. I was just kidding."

"Good. Now let me watch in peace for a couple of minutes."

She harrumphed and fell silent. Usually she had to fight off the men she went out with with a broomstick. Now this old fart had chosen to replace her with a TV set.

"I guess it's true what they say about growing old dampening the sex drive," she said with a straight face.

Expecting a tart rejoinder from Andrei, she instead heard him say, "Yes, it does. But I'm not old and infirm now. Don't make me prove that to you, Hikaru-chan."

_Oh, but I want you to prove it to me!_ part of her wanted to shout. _Especially with sempai's body!_ Shocked at herself, she flushed red. _Hey, knock it off, Hiyama! This guy's old enough to be your father._

_No he's not,_ countered the voice in her head. _Just look at him!_

"Get thee away from me," she muttered, brushing her hair harder.

Cold droplets of water splattered against Andrei's skin, catching his attention. "Here, give me that," he ordered, snatching the brush from her hands.

She opened her mouth to protest, but shut it again when he started running the brush through her hair.

"What are you…"

"Sit here," he said, indicating the floor in front of him.

"Why?"

"Just do it, will you?"

"Yes, my god and master." She got off the sofa and sat down cross-legged on the floor between his legs, leaning against the sofa. He began brushing her hair again.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to comb your hair when it's still wet?" he asked.

"I know that," she countered. "I don't care."

He continued his ministrations as they sat watching the TV. She found the regular motions of the brush soothing, and soon felt her eyelids growing heavy.

"Umm, that's nice."

"Glad you like it," came his quiet voice. "I used to do this for Maria, too, you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When she had trouble sleeping, I would usually find her in front of her dresser, brushing her hair. So to help her relax, I would brush her hair for her."

"That was sweet of you," said Hikaru, her voice growing indistinct with sleep.

"Up." He placed a plump white pillow on his lap. She laid her head on it, stretching herself out on the couch.

"I think I should go to my room now…" she murmured.

"You can sleep here. It's okay, I don't mind."

She smiled at him and fell asleep. He continued stroking her hair, replacing the brush with his fingers. He looked down at her peaceful form and felt oddly comforted.

------oOo------

Madoka Ayukawa ran her hands over the keyboard, playing a tune as restless as she felt. She was back at the Adriano's dining room, which, given the lateness of the hour, was virtually deserted. She had left Kyousuke in Andrei's room but found she couldn't sleep, and had by merest chance wandered into the dining room, which was supposed to be open twenty-four hours a day. She wondered where Hikaru had disappeared to. No one had seen her since that afternoon.

The little boy Arturo approached her, breaking her concentration. She stopped and waited.

"Pardon, Madam," he said hesitatingly. "If you won't need anything, I'll be going to bed." He hadn't wanted to disturb her. Her music was enchanting and he wanted to just sit and listen to it, but his father told him to knock it off and go to bed. There was a lot of work to be done tomorrow, he said.

Madoka shook her head. "I'm so sorry to keep you up. It's okay, go to sleep, I'll fix things here."

Arturo bowed and, with a last respectful glance at the solemn lady at the piano, left.

She resumed from where she left off. The sound of the music drifted around the room, sounding melancholy in the dimmed lighting.

She stared at the part of the wall behind her decorated with bullet pocks that hadn't been repaired yet. She was glad her parents had escaped that fracas unharmed.

_Madoka-san._

The voice calling her name echoed in her mind. _Manami-chan?_

_Onii-chan asks you to keep playing._ As they grew older, the ESPers of the Kasuga family often found new powers emerging within them. In Manami's case, it was telepathy. Not as powerful as their cousin Kazuya's, but handy nevertheless.

She looked up and searched for them. _Why isn't he asleep yet?_

There was a pause, and a figure being pushed in a wheelchair emerged from the darkness outside the open double doors. _He says he can sleep anytime, it's always dark anyway._

She stood up and left the piano. The one or two patrons who were left in the room seemed disappointed at the loss. The Adriano staff behind the counter watched interestedly as Madoka strode up to Andrei.

"You should be asleep," she said. "You too, Manami-chan."

"I told you it was a bad idea telling her," rasped Kyousuke. "Why'd you stop?"

"Don't change the subject, Kasuga."

An aged hand pounded the cushioned armrest of the wheelchair. "I'm not sleepy, blast it. And Manami here wouldn't listen to me."

"The butler offered to stay with onii-chan, but I told him to rest," explained the bespectacled girl. "He's been fidgety ever since you left him alone."

"How do you expect me to feel, spending the night in this strange body with all its aches and pains?" Blind white eyes turned towards Madoka. "Please keep playing."

"Oh, alright." She reached down and gave his withered hand a brief caress.

As Madoka returned to the piano, Kyousuke said to his younger sister, "At least I know now why Mr. Pagott is so fond of music. You don't need eyes to appreciate it…"

Madoka started a new piece, filling the empty silence with dramatic, serious sound.

_Madoka-san. Onii-chan's asking the title of what you're playing._

_Your brother has too many questions. Fantasia for Nausicaä._ Unlike some people she knew, the musical technician in Madoka was eclectic in taste and would never confine herself to a single genre of music. She played it as long as she liked it and as long as it sounded good to her.

_Do you take requests?_ She could hear the smile in the younger girl's voice.

_Maybe._

_Deer's Wind by Joe Hisaishi._

_Really, Manami-chan. How will that help?_

_You'll see. I know onii-chan's a sucker for that kind of music. Three minutes of that and poof! Dreamland._

She looked in Manami's direction. _Okay, as soon as I finish this one._

_Thanks._

Seated in the wheelchair, staring blankly into darkness, Kyousuke's mind soon lost itself in the sea of sound his beloved provided. He couldn't tell if he was asleep already, or wandering in a waking dream. Manami could, however, and when Madoka had finished both songs, they wheeled him quietly out of the room, smiles decorating both their faces.


	6. Hikaru in the Garden of Forever

**HIKARU IN THE GARDEN OF FOREVER**

With a start Hikaru opened her eyes. She found herself looking up at Kyousuke Kasuga's face. He was smiling down at her. At first she thought she must be dreaming still, but then the previous night's events came back to her.

"Well, good morning." His voice was low and guttural.

"Good morning." She rubbed her eyes. "Don't tell me you've been this way all through the night?"

He nodded.

"But… but how are you supposed to enjoy this day without having slept?"

"I'm used to it," he answered. "And you're just in time, too. We need to leave early today."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you somewhere special." A mysterious expression materialized on his face. "Somewhere magical."

Hikaru sat up and stretched. "You don't have to go to all this trouble," she said, stifling a yawn, "on my account."

"I want to," he said, standing up and stretching himself. Hikaru watched him move, thewed muscles rippling under his pale mahogany skin, and found herself longing to touch him.

"But why?"

"You'll see. Trust me on this one, please." He headed for his bathroom. "By the way, breakfast is on the balcony."

After she had washed herself, Hikaru headed there. The horizon was just beginning to show the light of the rising sun. Andrei was nowhere in sight. The small round metal table in the middle of the balcony was set for two, with a vase containing one red and one white rose in the middle of it. There was an apfelstrudel waiting on her plate. She could see a red heart-shaped note through the pastry's paper-thin crust. It had her name written on it.

She sat down and used a fork to dig it out. Opening it, she read on the left side:

_If only this were half as sweet as you._

And on the right:

_Love, Andrei._

She smiled and blushed, wiping and tucking the note carefully into her pocket. She reached for the jug of clotted cream on the breakfast dolly beside her and drowned the apfelstrudel with it.

Andrei stepped onto the balcony and immediately spied her eating.

He raised an eyebrow. "Gee, you couldn't have waited for me?"

"Sorry, it looked so tempting I couldn't resist." She pointed with her fork at the pastry, half of which remained.

"Oh… that's alright." Looking pointedly at her food, he sat down opposite her.

"Why are you eating only that?" she asked, indicating the biscuits on his plate. "That's bird food. Want some of mine?"

"Uh, no thanks. Tweet tweet…"

Hikaru could hold back no longer. She laughed, leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you," she said, beaming happily at him, producing the note from her pocket.

Andrei breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I thought you had eaten it."

"It was sweet of you," Hikaru said, replacing the note. She shook her head in wonder. "Why are you being so sweet to me?"

"'Cause I like you," he said. "I think you're a nice girl."

She blushed at the compliment. "I like you too," Hikaru admitted. "For an old guy and someone not really himself at the moment," she couldn't resist adding.

"Yes, well, this old guy would like you to hurry up as we have a ride to catch." He sipped at his hot cup of tea.

------oOo------

The limo brought them to the private airport where Madoka and Kyousuke had first landed some weeks ago. Several people were waiting for them, having been forewarned by Cardiff that a special guest of Mr. Pagott was to arrive in the wee hours of the morning and was to be extended every courtesy, no matter how strange his demands seemed.

And strange they were. By the time the pair got out onto the tarmac, still wreathed in half-shadow, a little propeller plane was waiting for them. It was painted a deep green color, and a red winged devil holding a pitchfork ornamented the vertical tail. A pair of empty olive-drab Matra rocket pods hung under the shoulder-mounted wings.

"What's this?" Hikaru asked as they approached the aircraft.

"My plane," Andrei answered when they had reached it, running his hands over the glossy metal skin, as an artist would run his hands over a sculpture. "The last of the EFI-9Bs. A genuine antique, like its owner." He left her standing there, excusing himself, saying he was going to preflight the craft.

After he had finished, he had a short chat with one of the men in overalls standing around the Minicon. A short ladder was wheeled up to the left side of the plane and the canopy raised. As Andrei was about to mount it, one of the ground crew handed him a large basket, from which issued forth several savory smells.

"From Cardiff, sir," he explained.

Andrei took the basket from him and nodded. "Excellent. Where would I be without him?"

The crewman thought the comment strange but said nothing.

Andrei got into the pilot's seat, his movements slow and unsure. He was trying to recall his piloting days. Looking down at his blond companion from his perch, he bellowed, "Well? What are you waiting for? Hop in!"

His brusque tone caused her to raise an eyebrow. The ladder was wheeled to the other side and Hikaru climbed into the empty seat. She saw him busy reading the flight manual and decided not to bother him.

Awash in memories of an earlier time, he didn't even notice her strap herself in and put on the waiting headset. His hands started to move, flicking switches, turning knobs, bringing the metal bird to life.

"Clear!" he called out.

Two gray overalls on either side of the aircraft's nose raised their hands, thumbs up. "Clear!" they answered in unison. Andrei pressed the starter.

For a moment there was a loud _tiktiktik, tiktiktik_ noise, and suddenly the silence that stood over everything ran terrified into the surrounding countryside as the engine belched and the three-bladed propeller spun into fitful life.

After testing the controls for a minute or two, Andrei proceeded to put on his headset. Adjusting the microphone boom, he said, "Hikaru-chan, can you hear me?"

"Yes." The noise-canceling electronics were working very well.

The crewman who had given Andrei the basket signaled Hikaru to keep clear, then pushed the canopy down until it locked.

Andrei motioned to the mechanics, who walked away from the plane.

Switching from the intercom to the radio, Andrei called the tower. "Good morning, Bestzt Tower, Baby Ninety-Nine with you on Ground, request clearance to taxi, flight plan as filed."

"Bestzt Tower here, Nine-Nine. Cleared all the way to the active, winds two-three-six at five knots. Report in position."

"Copy."

He switched back to the intercom. "Hikaru-chan."

Hikaru, who was enjoying the sight of a Kyousuke Kasuga playing at being a pilot, blinked. "Yes?"

"This will be my last flight. I hope you enjoy it."

She nodded, remaining silent because she knew that, if she were in his place, she'd spend all her effort into committing everything to memory. A memory to last through the days and nights of nothingness…

Andrei gave the Minicon a little throttle and it started to roll.

The ground crew watched as the diminutive plane waddled on its spindly tricycle landing gear to the opposite end of the runway and stopped short. After a brief pause it moved onto the long strip of black asphalt and took off, circling the airfield once, then heading northeast and gradually disappearing into the morning sky. One by one they shuffled off to the canteen. Breakfast was now their number-one priority.

------oOo------

Up in the cockpit Hikaru watched the early-morning Italian countryside go past beneath them.

"Wonderful! What a view!"

The sky to the east was beginning to lighten to violet. Westward it was still the deep, dark blue of night. The land below was still steeped in shadow. Under the canopy she could see it all.

"I've never been in a plane this small," she said. "Is this the one you flew in Africa?"

He shook his head. "But it's the same model, except that my aunt's daughter modified it so much it's like a brand-new machine."

She craned her neck to watch a car on a road beneath them. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

They flew on in silence for several minutes. The sky had turned red-golden as the sun finally peeped in from the horizon, bathing mountaintops in a golden mist, when Hikaru spoke again. "I like flying like this."

"Eh?"

"You know, flying this way. Not like in an airliner, where you have at best one window to look out of, and most of the time you see nothing but clouds or the sea. This low, I can look down on the people and houses, and see them like they're toys."

He smiled, remembering his own early memories of flight. A cramped cockpit wasn't enough to wipe the silly grin off his face when he first took to the sky with his father in his old red seaplane. Passing by coastal liners, waving to the passengers as they zoomed by, and having them wave in return, like old friends…

He put the little craft into a shallow dive, then pulled up into a lazy half-loop. Hikaru stared at the ground through the top of the canopy. She never stopped yelling until Andrei bottomed out the loop and they were right side up again.

"Yahoo! This is better than a roller coaster! How about another one?"

The owner of the Pagott conglomerate was more than willing to oblige. For one flight, his skills, long dormant, were miraculously back to the way they were. They did another loop, then an Immelmann, then a split-S to get back on course.

"You sure you don't feel dizzy?" he asked her.

"Just a little bit. But that was fun!"

"Would you like to try flying the plane?"

"What? I don't know how…"

"It's easy. Put your right hand on the stick and put your left on the throttle. Got it?"

"Uh-huh."

"Now put your feet on the rudder pedals."

Andrei quickly explained to her the functions of the controls, then went into a series of gentle turns to show her how they were coordinated.

"Now I'll shake the stick twice. When I do, I'll say 'You have the airplane.' You must reply 'I have the airplane' before I'll let go of the stick. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Andrei had her hold the stick and he let go, admonishing her to not let go or make sudden hand movements or they'd end up crashing. She did pretty well for a beginner, although she porpoised the plane and he noticed the stick shaking ever so slightly.

"Hikaru, when you fly you don't have to use a death grip. Just point the nose and let the plane go where you want it to go." He shook the stick twice, indicating that he was taking over. "I have control."

"You have it," she said, relieved but strangely exhilarated as she let go of the stick.

There was a moment or two of silence, then Andrei spoke.

"There, you see, I'm not touching anything." He held his hands up and waved them for her to see.

"Kyaa!"

"Relax. You want to handle the plane some more?"

"Eh? Can I?"

"Sure."

She grasped the stick and wagged it. "I have it."

"You have it."

Andrei let her fly the plane for the next few minutes. The sleepless night he spent caught up with him, and he drowsed off on the tyro in the right seat. Engrossed in her task, she didn't notice him sleeping until around twenty minutes had passed. She yelled him awake.

"Ojisama! I don't know where we're supposed to go…"

"Sorry. I have it."

"You've got it." She exhaled noisily, relieved.

"Good work."

"Thanks! That was easy."

There were several mountains ahead, and he pointed them out to her.

"We're almost there." Then he put the little craft into a gentle climb.

The landscape below changed into one of broken rock and forest. It was a forbidding place to have to land in. Hikaru couldn't even spot any houses on the ground anymore.

Then, just as the watch on her wrist changed to read 8:00 AM, they went over the mountains and entered clouds. The blinding whiteness all around caused her to squint against the glare. Two minutes later, they burst out of them.

"This is it," Andrei said.

Hikaru saw below her a green valley sparkling in the sunshine, ringed all around with tall mountains, and with a deep blue lake at one end. She felt absurdly happy at the sight. There was another odd feeling, too, but she couldn't quite put a name to it yet. It somehow made her think back to the time when she was still in high school, basking languidly beside the swimming pool under the sultry summer sun…

"What do you think, Hikaru-chan?" asked Andrei.

The question brought her out of her reverie. "Huh? It's—it's beautiful… This is your 'special place'?"

He nodded.

"Would you like to land this thing?"

"Would I? Sure!"

Andrei coached her to a passable, if a bit bumpy, landing on the grass near the lake. When they had rolled completely to a stop, she yelled "Yatta!" at the top of her lungs. "I did it! Jing…"

Andrei winced in his seat. "Ah, Hikaru, you can stop stepping on the toe brakes now. And don't shout so loud, it hurts my ears. I'd hate to explain to Kyousuke why his body returned stone-deaf."

"Aw, meanie," replied she, unbuckling and removing her headset as Andrei shut the engine and popped the canopy open. She nimbly climbed down the airplane's side and jumped to the ground.

She inhaled deeply. "Ah, what fresh air! I can't believe only a few people come here. Just look at the view!"

Andrei, who had also dismounted, walked around the EFI to her. "No one comes here, Hikaru. Except people like us."

"What do you mean?" She _had_ noticed a few odd things about the place. Most of the grass was cropped short, almost as short as the turf on a golf course, punctuated here and there with patches of wildflowers swaying in the breeze. And the lake was glassy-smooth—not a ripple was to be seen on it.

Andrei shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it. When I was small my mother used to tell me stories about how this valley was a small part of the Garden of Eden during the world's creation, about how only people with pure and strong hearts could find it and enter." He laughed. "I never believed her until I stumbled into it myself."

"How are you so sure it's special?" she asked, removing her pumps to feel the springy grass beneath her feet.

"Well, how do you feel now?"

She struggled for words. "I—wonderful, like I'm on vacation and have nothing to worry about. Like…like I'm in one of those picture-perfect postcards…"

"Did you feel that way before we landed here?"

She shook her head. _No, I was busy trying to fight off an attraction for you…Kyousuke or Andrei or whatever part of you I'm interested in…_

"That is part of the magic of this place. I will show you another. Wish for something, but don't tell me just yet. Something dear to you, but harmless, okay? Just one."

"Okay." A pause. "Done."

Andrei waited. And waited.

"Well?"

"I—what did you wish for, Hikaru-chan?"

She blushed. "A sign that my friendship with Madoka-san and Kyousuke-sempai would last forever."

Andrei scratched his head. "Uh, that's kind of tough… wait, maybe that's it." He pointed skyward.

She squinted into the brilliant blue glare. "Wow… I think you're right. I didn't notice those before."

Hanging in the morning sky were three tiny points of light, in a shallow arcing line. The one in the middle shone a bit brighter than the two others, and the one on its left was closer to it than the one on the right.

"A bit subtle, that one." Andrei smiled at her.

"We may be mistaken," Hikaru said, dubious.

"No, I don't think so."

Deep in her heart she knew he was right. Pointing at the lights, she said softly, "Hi-ka-ru. To shine. Like a star."

"Really? How interesting."

"I guess mine's the one further away from the others." She smiled sadly. "Hey, why don't you make a wish?"

"I've already had mine."

"What was it?"

"To never lose my love for women."

She laughed. "Did you really wish for that?"

"A long time ago. Seemed to work, in a troublesome sort of way," he admitted sheepishly.

Something landed on Hikaru's shoulder. It was a little bird, a pipit, and as she turned her head to look at it, it trilled in her ear.

"Andrei! Andreeeii!"

"What's wrong?"

"This bird… this bird talked to me!"

"Ah, an old friend. Listen to him."

She lost some of the apprehension on her face as the little bird trilled softly.

"Well?"

"It said… it said I should tell it the troubles I want it to take away."

Andrei clapped her on the shoulder and nodded gravely. "Here's your chance. Take it."

Hikaru extended an index finger in front of her and the small bird hopped on it, looking at her expectantly. She was silent for a few minutes.

Andrei heard her murmur, "No, no. It is really tempting… But those memories are precious to me even though I bought them with great pain… It would not be a real happiness…" Her face took on a forlorn expression.

Finally she said, "I've decided." Her feathered listener chirped once, then flew away.

"You didn't?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because I'd rather live with this than live a lie." She looked up at Andrei. "Will I wish for my happiness to be built on the back of someone else's ruin? Will I forsake my friendship with Madoka-san because I selfishly want a man who has… who has already given himself to her?" She recalled the suppressed terror on Madoka's face as she cradled the injured Kyousuke. "She's suffered enough. I don't want it that way." She looked away from him. "I don't want him that way," she murmured.

_You'll never get this chance again,_ Andrei wanted to tell her. _You're being too goddamn sentimental._ "I hope you won't regret your choice," he said quietly.

"Did you get this chance too?" asked Hikaru.

"I did, and I also refused it."

"But why?"

"Sometimes the more difficult road is the better one," he replied cryptically. No amount of prodding by the blond girl would make him elaborate.

"Why didn't you wish for, say, someone to love?"

"Don't you understand? The bird only takes troubles away. It does not grant wishes. And anyway, we… we have the same problem," Andrei answered. "All the women I've been with… none of them ever really caught my fancy. To be truthful, I was too willing to accept the company of those who threw themselves at me, and were really only interested in my money."

Hikaru bent her knees and rested her head on them, locking her legs in place with her arms. "This 'special place' of yours," she commented, "I don't think much of it. It's made us both sad."

Andrei didn't reply for a while. "I'm sorry. I brought you here to try to help you with your troubles." He picked absently at the grass. "It seems I made things worse."

"Oh, no," said Hikaru. "You've made my choice clear to me, Andrei. And even though I feel like my heart has been ripped in two, I have no regrets about choosing the way I did."

"I wish I could be as sure as you."

"Well, aren't you glad I decided to tag along, then?" She made a show of examining a blade of grass. "We both seem to need something from one another."

"You talk tough," he said. "But see how you feel when night comes and you have to face your bed all alone."

"Been there. It doesn't bother me so much anymore. I just have to fill my heart with other things."

Andrei looked at her. "Other things?"

"You know… work, hobbies, etcetera, etcetera. There is room in my life for more than _one_ kind of love, you know."

"Really, eh?" He lay back on the ground, lacing his hands together and resting his head on them. "Then could you do something for me? Something for an old man?"

"What?"

"Take up flying."

Her mouth opened in surprise. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "I know it sounds silly, but I've always thought that flying was a gift to be shared with someone else." He laid a hand on her upper arm. "I'd like to share it with you, if I may."

Touched, Hikaru put a hand on his own. "Why me?"

Andrei's face—Kyousuke's face—scrunched up, a study in concentration. "How shall I put it into words? How will I name the joy of it? The peace of its solitude? The solace it always offered me when I was lonely? The beauty of the earth as it creeps past you, seeing it free of the anger and stupidity and pettiness of mankind? The taking-of-place each pilot does, standing in line in one unbroken succession from the earliest pioneers to the latest generation?" He looked up at her. "In the sky, a pilot has no course to chart but his own. He is completely free to do anything he wants. I think… I think that would be the perfect gift for you."

His words seemed to echo in her head. She closed her eyes, the smile still on her face. "You have the silver tongue of a poet, Andrei. Way unlike Kyousuke-sempai. Thanks… for being concerned about me."

Opening her eyes, she saw his face turn red. "No problem, kid," he replied, obviously trying to shrug it off. He looked at her. "So, will you?"

"I don't know. I need to think about it."

"I have some people who can help you," Andrei stated. "All you have to do is haul your butt over to them and let them take care of the rest."

"Yes, well, it's a long way from here to Japan."

"Who said anything about coming here? I've got two subsidiaries in your country. I'll send my people there."

"You'd do that for me?" she asked, mystified. "Why?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm also sort of looking for someone connected to my family who will carry on flying. There's always been a pilot in every Pagott generation, from my grandfather up to me. That's why I'm offering it to you, and since I have no heirs of my body to pass it on too, an heir in spirit will have to do." _And,_ he thought, _I've no time left to go looking further._

"But surely there are others who fit the bill much better than I can."

"I've been looking around. Even when I became blind, I used Cardiff and other people as my eyes and ears. I thought I had found one, except he's too military for my taste." He snorted. "Airplanes aren't innately meant to be instruments of destruction. He thinks otherwise."

"Listen to me prattle. Come on, girl. Let's eat." He stood up and stretched out his hand.

She held it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Do you really think I could fly a plane like you do?" she asked, brushing and smoothing her miniskirt.

"Anyone can. Except the blind, of course. And, if my one of my companies has anything to say about it, not even that will prove to be an obstacle for very long."

"I'll think about it."

He nodded, and together they walked back to the Minicon.

------oOo------

The early lunch consisted of mashed potatoes, some gnocchi, and heaping amounts of breaded fried chicken, with an ancient bottle of wine. After they had finished, they put the utensils and plates away and sat quietly in the shade of the EFI's left wing, whiling away the time looking out at the deserted valley.

"Hey, Andrei?"

"Mmm?"

"I don't suppose… I don't suppose you have a picture of yourself when you were younger?"

"No. What use would that be to a blind man?" He fished his wallet out and rummaged through it. "Oh, looks like I was mistaken." He extracted a small white-bordered photo, faded with age. "Here." Hikaru took it. "Don't laugh."

It showed a lanky man with thick eyebrows staring intensely into the camera, his square jaws in a sardonic smile, rumpled black hair matching a rumpled flight suit, standing in what appeared to be the middle of a bustling hangar.

"Africa. After we rocketed Port Harcourt, I think." His eyes were distant as he recalled the memories.

"You don't look too bad," Hikaru commented. "No wonder the ladies go for you."

"Thanks a lot, Hikaru-chan."

"What? What did I say? I meant it. It's the stare."

"Wow." He owled her. "You know, you don't look too ugly yourself."

She found herself unsettled by the staring Kyousuke Kasuga and involuntarily backed away. "Hey! I didn't mean it that way!"

Andrei laughed. "It's alright, I know that."

Hikaru stood up and stretched. Andrei admired her shapely calves as she stood a moment on tiptoe. She kicked her pumps off. "Race you to the lake."

"Huh? Okay, you're on."

She won the footrace by a good ten yards or so, standing by the shore, panting, as a winded Kyousuke Kasuga staggered after her.

"Nyahahaha! I knew sempai didn't exercise that much."

Gasping, Andrei scowled and lurched towards her. "What? Why you, I'll give you 'exercise'!"

She felt him grab her by the waist and lift her up in the air as if she were a toy. She had just enough time to utter a shriek as he threw her into the lake fully clothed.

There was an almighty splash when she hit the water, then another type of loud sound as she broke the surface.

"You—! You idiot! What'd you do that for? I don't have any more clothes to wear! You're terrible!"

Laughing, Andrei watched as she started to come out of the water at him, modestly crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Say, that looks so inviting! Why don't I just…" and with a mighty leap he landed in the water beside her.

"What? What?" Hikaru spluttered. "I'll show you, dumping me in the lake like that." She held his head down when he tried to surface. Then she spied something floating in the water some feet away from her. With a quick lunge she caught it just as Andrei, coughing and laughing, came up.

He spotted her, unusually silent, facing away from him. "Hey, Hikaru, what's the matter?" Had he seen her face, he would have realized the meaning of the malicious grin that showed itself once, then with a surge of control was brought under.

"I'm not talking to you," she announced, still not facing him. "What will I wear now? How am I going to go back to the hotel looking like this?"

"Well," said Andrei light-heartedly, "you can always strip naked."

"Oh, fine, fine! And what will happen when Madoka-san sees us? She'll say, 'Kyousuke, why are you with Hikaru and what happened to her clothes?' and proceed to give you the beating of your life and I'll have to explain everything to her so she won't chew me out as well…" She gave an unladylike snort of disgust. "Really, you do put me into the worst situations."

"H–hey, I'm sorry. It was just a joke." Andrei swam nearer to her.

"Some joke." She pouted. "If you want to show me you're really sorry…" Still crossing her arms in front of her chest, she leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "You must allow me to kiss you."

A pause. "What?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, managing in his eyes to look delectably minxish even though she was as dripping wet as a drowned rat. "Well, you willing or not?"

Andrei, momentarily confused, rolled his eyes skyward, as if seeking guidance from the heavens. "Ah, what the hell. I was always a sucker for pretty girls."

_Just a sucker is more like it,_ she snickered. "Now close your eyes…"

"What about Ma—"

She vehemently shook her head. "Don't mention her name!" She had the grace to look embarassed as she coyly added, "One kiss from sempai isn't nearly enough…"

So Andrei grinned and closed his eyes. _At last, a smooch for me…you old dog, you… _That was when Hikaru shoved the frog she'd been hiding in her hands between his pursed lips.

She found his yell satisfyingly hair-raising.

------oOo------

They had arranged their clothes out to dry on top of the little Saab's wing. Hikaru wore a blanket brought along by Andrei supposedly for a picnic as a sarong as she waited in the left wing's shade for her clothes to dry. He was clad in blue jeans and a short-sleeved fatigue-colored t-shirt but was barefoot, as he had been wearing Kyousuke's rubber shoes when he jumped into the lake. Hikaru wore the squeaky rubber flip-flops that had given her away when she had first tailed him.

"Hey, Andrei, you're not still angry at me, are you?"

The man who had shouted "I'm-a gonna kill you!" at her some minutes earlier was busy rummaging through the stores under the airplane's seats.

"Nope."

"Really?"

A towel sailed out of the cockpit. "Nope."

"Aw, come on." Hikaru stamped her foot. "Anyway, you started it."

"Really, I'm not." His head popped up and banged against the canopy. "Ouch! It's just that my ego has been bruised by falling for that childish gag of yours."

"Well, then, you're a child, since you fell for it."

"Alright already, we're even." He turned away and spat. "I hope that frog was clean and I don't get blisters on my lips—on Kyousuke's lips," he corrected. Ducking down, he again disappeared into the cockpit.

"Hey," she heard his muffled voice say, "is this yours?" He reemerged holding a wide-brimmed yellow straw hat with a thin red border.

Hikaru shook her head. "Uh-uh."

He tossed it down to her. She caught it as it sailed over her head and put it on.

"Funny," said Andrei. "I don't recall asking them to pack that. Ah, well, must be Cardiff's doing."

"I wish we could stay longer," Hikaru remarked as she watched him clamber down the airplane's side.

Andrei landed beside her. "Well, a deal's a deal. Though I wish you didn't remind me."

"Sorry."

He sat down in the grass beside her, mimicking her posture, legs bent, arms encircling them, head propped on knees.

"You know, if I were you, I'd ask sempai for an extension."

"Well, you're not me. And as much as I'd like to spend more time like this—" his voice faltered "—I know very well what Kasuga must be going through in my body. Your sempai is a brave lad. And a kind one."

Hikaru nodded in agreement. "That's why I fell in love with him," she said quietly. "He may be spineless sometimes, but when it comes right down to it, there's nothing he wouldn't do to protect someone he cared about."

"Ah, he's not the only man in the world, Hikaru-chan."

She was silent.

"Era forgive me…" he heard her say. "I could not stop loving Atlas."

"What?"

"I said… never mind. It's a line from a musical I once auditioned for."

Andrei looked at her. "I'd like to hear it, if you don't mind."

Hikaru's cheeks burned. "Era was a goddess of beauty who loved Atlas, son of Poseidon." She lowered her head, hiding her face underneath the straw hat. "He met a beautiful island girl whose name was Sofina, and fell in love with her, although he was supposed to be engaged to Era. At first the goddess tolerated this, but when Atlas refused to return to her, she caused a plague to break out among the island girls, making them ugly. Tormented, the women took Sofina away from Atlas while he was sleeping and left her at the end of the island, where the sun rose from the sea. There Era confronted her. She said, 'If only I could have been you. If only I could have loved Atlas dearly, as you did. I'm sorry, Sofina.'"

"When she realized that the goddess genuinely loved Atlas as much as she did, Sofina said, 'Blessed Era, please forgive me. I have committed a sin so great that, even if I were to bury myself for all eternity in the soil of this beautiful country, it would not be erased... And yet I continue to commit this sin every day. Even if it meant I would turn into the seaweed that washes onto the shore, I could not stop loving Atlas.'"

"Then Era says, 'I have lost,' and Sofina throws herself into the sea and drowns."

"You were Sofina," said Andrei.

"Was supposed to be," she corrected. "I lost the audition."

"This was when? After Kasuga broke up with you?"

"Yeah. About two years ago, in New York."

Her voice was flat, and the expression on her face was as bleak as a parched, rocky desert. "Three boyfriends later, here I am. Hikaru the butterfly, flitting from flower to flower."

"Why do you still love him, after all this time?"

She raised her head, looked at him, and shrugged. "Will you ask the wind why it blows? Or why the stars shine? I just do." She looked out at the towering mountains, hazy in the distance.

They sat silent for a few minutes, pondering each other's words.

"Like Sofina, I guess," ventured the owner of the Hotel Adriano, "you'll do what you think is right and sacrifice yourself for Madoka, eh?"

She closed her eyes. "Some things are better left unsaid, Andrei-ojisama."

"Pish-posh. A dead sacrifice is better than a living hell. You don't have to be that way, Hikaru-chan."

"What are you saying?"

"Move on. Girl, you've got to move on. Or you'll destroy yourself."

"Don't you think I've been trying to do exactly that?" Her voice became louder. "I was doing fine until I came to Italy and saw him again. Then he gets himself shot, then you enter the picture…"

"Do what's right for yourself this time. Find yourself another man." Andrei laughed, and hoped she wouldn't take offense at it. "I'm sure you'll find one someday."

She sighed and looked skywards. "But I'm so tired," she said, blinking her eyes. "Andrei, my heart is very, very tired."

Andrei felt his heart wrung by pity. She was so young to be covered by so much of the spoor of weariness. Trying to cheer her up, he said, "Look, here's Atlas beside you. Won't you take advantage of the situation?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Noble bastard."

"Aw, Hikaru-chan, you disappoint me. Are you so caught up in self-pity that you won't even try to make yourself happy just this once?"

She sighed. "I guess you're right. I shouldn't be moping like this."

"That's more the spirit," he commended her, pounding her shoulder—gently—with a fist.

Hikaru was quiet for a while. When she spoke again, there was quite a different expression on her face, like that of someone who had decided on something.

"Guess I should be doing something about it, huh?"

Andrei nodded. "Uh-huh."

She breathed in deep, as a swimmer about to take the plunge. "You know, I'm not always driven to do what's right."

"Eh?"

Without warning she pushed him flat against the ground and straddled him.

"What…?"

"Sometimes," she said slowly, leaning closer to him, hands on his shoulders, "I do what I want, and the hell with consequences."

"Hikaru-chan…"

Her face drifted closer to his.

------oOo------

"Andrei." Her voice was throaty and sensual, caressing his name like a woman would caress a man's body.

He swallowed and tried to keep his voice light. "You know, Madoka isn't going to like this."

"Who's going to tell her, hmm?" She ran an index finger over his lips.

"After all you said about keeping away from Kyousuke—"

Her smile was slow and sexy. "There's no Kyousuke in front of me now. And if I can't have all of him, I'll settle for half."

"But what about the other half? Namely me?"

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride." Andrei found himself blushing at the double entendre.

Her face came closer and closer…

He was startled when she collapsed on top of him, her head veering off to one side. The yellow hat popped off her head and slowly rolled on the grass. For a moment they lay on the ground, cheek to cheek, her whole weight resting on him.

Hikaru groaned. "Oh, who the hell am I kidding?" In her extremity, she was resorting to being vulgar. "I couldn't seduce him before, I find I still can't do it, even now." She raised her head to look at Andrei. "Even when there's no one inside save an old man who, I'm sure, wouldn't mind if I went all the way."

"You'll have to excuse me," she said, "I'm not quite myself now." To his bewilderment, she started giggling. "I must look like a fool. A stupid fool." She rolled off him, careful to keep her blanket in place, and lay on her stomach, face hidden in the grass. Her giggles turned to a long, loud peal of laughter. "A stupid fool. A stupid, stupid fool."

She beat the ground with her fist. "A stupid fool."

Andrei laid a hand on her shoulder. When she raised her face a moment off the ground, he could see a momentary sparkle running down her cheeks.

"Andrei," she said, propping herself on her elbows, turning to look at him. "I don't know whether to laugh or cry, so this is happening to me…" Another paroxysm of laughter shook her.

"Why laugh or cry at all?" he asked.

"'Cause, Andrei," she replied, stifling her laughing, wiping the tears from her eyes, "I don't—ahahaha—I don't know what part of… of what I'm feeling… is for you and what—what part is for sempai."

After another outburst, she quieted a bit, retrieved the yellow hat, and replaced it on her head. "I'm so confused."

Andrei's cheeks were red. "Did I hear you right, Hikaru-chan?"

Sniffling, she smiled and nodded.

"I'll take what I can get," he said, leaning forward. She gave him a noisy buss.

Hikaru lay down on the grass and rolled over to look up at the shiny white underside of the EFI's wing. "I can't believe this. I'm falling for a guy who's actually old enough to be my father."

"I guess I should be offended at that, even though it's true," Andrei scratched his head. "But you know something?"

"What?" Another sniffle.

"You've got me confused too." They looked at each other and, for some reason, burst out laughing.

"This thing isn't powered by laughing gas, is it?" asked Hikaru, giggling. "Maybe it's leaking." She sat up with difficulty.

"Oh, so you could say it's been passing gas all the while!" Andrei roared, somehow finding that extremely funny and falling to the ground, clutching his stomach.

They stopped talking until they subsided, wiping their eyes of the laughter-induced lachrymation.

"Hikaru-chan, I… I don't know what to say," Andrei admitted, looking at her.

"Shh. Why say anything?" Hikaru leaned her head on his back.

"You know what'll happen when we leave this place."

"So? We have the 'here' and the 'now,' don't we?"

"Yeah. I guess that's all we lost souls can ask for." He stood up and extended her a hand.

Again he was offering her a hand. The symbolism was not lost on her. As he pulled her up, however, their feet tangled and they fell to the ground in an untidy heap, Andrei sprawling on top of her.

Dark brown eyes gazed into apprehensive blue ones inches away. Suddenly Andrei kissed her, and Hikaru found herself kissing him back. Her hands roamed restlessly on his frame.

When they broke, Hikaru looked at him. Her heart was pounding. "We shouldn't be doing this," she said weakly.

"Do you want to stop?" Before she could answer, his lips claimed hers again. His hand went to the knot that kept her blanket in place. With a deft flick of the fingers, it came undone, and the blanket fell away.

------oOo------

At the Adriano, a minor mishap occurred.

"Ow!"

"What is it? Kyousuke, are you alright?"

The old man nodded. "I just bit my tongue."

"Oh, okay. For a moment I thought it was something serious." Madoka continued picking apart his food for him so she could spoon it up.


	7. Farewells

**FAREWELLS**

"What on earth happened to you two?" asked Manami, surveying Andrei's room. It was the middle of the afternoon, and she had just descended from her room upstairs, where she had been busy talking to Kurumi long-distance on the phone.

"I'm still not sure myself," said Kyousuke, acting as if he wanted to get out of his wheelchair. Madoka in the meantime gingerly sat on the edge of the wide bed, wincing now and then. Bloody cotton balls and a bottle of rubbing alcohol were strewn haphazardly around her.

"It looks like a mini-battlefield," the girl with the glasses noted.

"One disaster after another," said Madoka. She told her how earlier she had knocked a glass of water to the floor and tried to clean up the resulting mess. Returning with a broom and dustpan, she slipped on the spilt liquid and fell on her bum on the floor, stabbing herself with a shard of glass in the process. Kyousuke had tried to catch her, but reacted too late and ended up levitating a lamp instead. And, when he let it go, breaking it as well.

"Oh, Madoka-san!" Manami stepped forward to help.

"It's all right," Madoka assured her. "It's not serious. I've taken care of it." She gestured towards her right calf.

Manami insisted, rolling up her soon-to-be sister-in-law's pant leg and examining the wound. "I guess you're right. It's shallow and not bleeding anymore," she confirmed, replacing the bandage.

"Are you sure?" Kyousuke asked.

She smiled at her brother's concern. "Yes, onii-chan." Tying her hair back into her trademark ponytail, she began bustling around and cleaned the mess up, above Kyousuke's protestations to 'let the staff do it'. Madoka tried to help her, but Manami pushed her back onto the bed and told her to stay put. She smiled, recognizing the younger girl was in 'housemother' mode.

"Boy, this room sure has a jinx on it," remarked Kyousuke, listening to the sounds of his sister puttering around. "I get shot here, now you fall and injure yourself."

"Funny, everything was fine earlier," said Madoka. "You know what they say about bad things happening in threes."

"I bit my tongue, remember?"

Manami looked up. "You did?"

Kyousuke—Andrei—nodded. Madoka had to restrain an urge to laugh as his sister promptly wheeled him into the bathroom and told him to brush his teeth and gargle especially well with the astringent mouthwash. After helping him with the task, she returned him to his place near the doors.

"Well, it looks like it's going to rain today," said Manami.

"Yeah," agreed Madoka. "The sky's been gray for a couple of hours now."

"So that's why the air felt cooler," Kyousuke said.

As if on cue, the three heard a distant rumble. "In fours, maybe?" he amended plaintively.

While Manami was finishing up her cleaning, the promised rain began to fall. Soon everything outside was drenched. Madoka, looking out the open doors, admired how the various flowers seemed to begin to glow in the dimmer light. One particular bunch—she didn't know what they were called—caught her eye. Large, yellow and bell-shaped, they hung from a vine-like creeper and seemed to glow brighter in the falling mist than the other blossoms. Their color somehow reminded her of a certain friend whose whereabouts were still unknown.

"Kyousuke," she said, "I wish you could see this, it's beautiful! You should take a picture of it."

"What is it?" She told him.

"Ah," he said, and made no further remark, though his face was unusually thoughtful.

After they had sat there for around an hour simply watching the rain fall, Mr. and Mrs. Ayukawa appeared at the entrance, dressed in jeans and pullovers, with a brown jacket held over their heads to ward off the rain.

"Hello, Mama, Papa."

"Hi, Madoka." Mr. Ayukawa shook the jacket vigorously outside while Madoka's mother entered the room.

"What happened to you?" she asked, noting the way her daughter sat on the bed.

Madoka told her the entire story, presenting her with a slightly edited version. She hoped Kyousuke could hold up his end if necessary.

"How are you today, Andrei?" asked Mrs. Ayukawa, sitting down on the bed by his side.

"Uh, I'm just fine… Y-Yoshiko." He caught himself just before he blurted 'ma'am'.

"Well, I'm glad that you're okay. From what you've told me, it's the only positive thing that's happened today."

"What do you mean, Mama?" asked Madoka.

"Well, we were going to visit a newly-excavated Roman settlement on the western edge of town," replied her mother, looking outside. "The entire time we've been here, it's always been sunny. _Now_ it has to rain."

"I like listening to the rain," Kyousuke said, making what he hoped was small talk. "It reminds me of what you sang."

"Thank you. I'm glad you liked it."

Madoka cast a quick glance at her father. There was no flicker of expression on his face.

"And what are _you_ doing here, young lady?" asked Mr. Ayukawa, sitting down in one of the chairs that flanked the doors after carefully placing his jacket on the coat rack.

"Oh, I just fed Mr. Pagott," she half-lied. "We were trading stories when you came in."

Manami looked her way but said nothing.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the rain fall outside.

Andrei spoke up. "Bad things happen in fives, it seems."

"What?" Mrs. Ayukawa turned toward him.

"Madoka and I were just talking about how bad things are said to happen in threes."

There was a movement outside, and they saw Cardiff appear, pushing a cart, sheltered by a large black umbrella wielded by a brown-haired man Madoka recognized as the one who had worn the black steel mask and assisted them in treating the wounded butler.

"You have finished, ma'am?" he asked Madoka, indicating the food tray. He put it away on his cart and produced a silver pillbox.

"Pardon, sir, it's time for your medicines."

Andrei nodded. His butler handed him several pills and a glass of water. One by one he downed them. The last one made him make a face.

"Ugh, that was horrible."

There was a commotion outside, and they heard voices. Familiar voices.

Into the doorway ran a rather sodden Kyousuke Kasuga and—clinging to his arm—a slightly less wet Hikaru Hiyama, shielding a large, colorful plastic bag.

"So much for staying dry," he was saying as he folded the single umbrella they had shared.

"Madoka-san!" the girl accompanying him exclaimed.

As if noticing the people in the room for the first time, Kyousuke caught Madoka's eye. A red stain crept up his neck. "Madoka… what is this, a party of some sort?"

"Hikaru! Where have you been?" The sight of her on Kyousuke's arm alarmed Madoka. Had they been together all this time? If so, what could they have been doing?

"Alright, Kasuga-kun." Bemused, the other occupants of the room watched as she crossed her arms, a stern look appearing on her face. "One minute. Start talking."

"I met him yesterday at a flea market," Hikaru divulged, cringing even though her best friend's glare wasn't aimed at her. "We roamed the city and got lost. We had to stay overnight in a bed and breakfast, but couldn't contact the Adriano because we couldn't make ourselves understood. Don't be mad at him."

Looking from one to the other, the raven-haired girl suddenly laughed. "I was just kidding." She leaned back on the bed, flinching slightly as she did so.

"What's wrong, big sister?"

It was Manami who explained what had happened. As she talked, Madoka could see the yellow flowers on the wall outside, past Hikaru's frazzled but beaming face. She could not tell which of the two was shining brighter at the moment.

Kyousuke disengaged himself from the blond girl and sat down on the bed beside his fiancé.

"Got lost, huh?" Madoka said in a low voice, looking at him dubiously.

Kyousuke vigorously nodded. "I swear," he replied in an equally low tone. "It's the absolute truth. But we did have some fun," he added, unable to keep the grin from appearing on his face.

"You rat," she swore, smiling, punching him in the shoulder. "Don't joke like that."

"Fun, the innocent kind! Geez!" In a low voice, he added, "Your friend is a very nice companion to have around."

"Uncle, it's probably too much to hope you didn't flirt with her." Madoka lost the amity she was displaying for the others in her worry about Hikaru. "Or hurt her feelings."

"No. Well, a little." He looked down at the floor. "We did have some tense moments."

"I'd like you to tell me about them."

"Later, I promise." Andrei grimaced inwardly at her words. Gods, of all the people to have to lie to. He could see himself in her. Wanting to be in control, to be informed all the time…

"I'm sorry you have to go back, Uncle," his niece commiserated.

"A deal's a deal. Thanks for watching over Kasuga while I was gone."

"How did you know that? It was no problem."

"Knowing you," he said slyly, "where else would you be?"

Again a companionable silence descended upon them. They spent the next half-hour or so just looking outside, or conversing in quiet tones with their neighbors. Kyousuke/Andrei watched them, wondering if they would ever be gathered like this again. He shook his head. Of course, Kasuga's wedding.

Hikaru was deep in conversation with Manami, having given the other girl a souvenir from the flea market they had stopped by just prior to making the bay crossing. She had purchased knick-knacks for everybody. Yoshiko and Seiji were talking with their daughter, trying once more to convince her to come live with them in America. Cardiff was talking to Andrei/Kyousuke about some small matter with the maintenance of the hotel.

"Oh, look, the rain's stopping," Manami pointed out.

"Finally," said Hikaru, making a little 'yes!' thumb-up motion with a hand. "I can go change now."

"Kyousuke, why don't you escort Hikaru up to her room?" Madoka said. "I'd do it myself, but…"

"Say no more. Come on, Hikaru-chan."

Pausing only to open their umbrella, Kyousuke left with the blond girl in tow, chattering happily.

_Oh, Hikaru, if you only knew…_Madoka thought. _I'm so sorry we have to lie to you. I wish we could tell you the truth._

------oOo------

Once safely out of sight, Madoka's best friend linked her arm around Andrei's. "Think we fooled them?"

He nodded. "I think so."

"I feel bad about lying to Madoka-san," she admitted, a serious expression on her face.

"That's to be expected. We're guilty."

"Why?"

"You know why."

Hikaru frowned. "I hope she'll understand someday. I hope she'll forgive me."

They crossed the lobby and went into the elevator.

"Era did. I think she will too."

"That was just a play."

"And this, my sweet, was just a dream," said Andrei, his lips in a thin line, his eyes sad.

Hikaru squeezed his hand.

The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Stepping out, they walked somberly to Hikaru's room, stopping outside the door.

"I… I guess this is goodbye."

"Yes. Well, thank you, Hikaru Hiyama." He gazed long into her eyes, knowing he would soon not be able to see them again. "For the company… and everything."

She couldn't stop herself from embracing him. "I'm so sad for you." They weren't quite the words she wanted to say, but she suddenly felt shy and couldn't bring herself to say what she really wanted to.

"Don't be. And Hikaru-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I think you'd better keep away from me from now on…"

Flabbergasted, she released him. "Why?"

"Your sempai. And Madoka. We talked about this a while ago, remember?"

"Is that all? I can find a way…"

"Hikaru-chan. Don't make this any harder than it already is. Please."

A hurt look appeared on her face. She stepped away from him, swallowing. "You know, you never told me how you feel about me."

"Isn't it obvious?" His resolve crumbled to bits as he looked at the pain in her eyes. Stepping forward, he hugged her to him. She raised her head and they kissed.

So oblivious were they to their surroundings that they never heard the elevator doors open. There was a loud gasp, and the startled pair turned to see who it was.

------oOo------

Kyousuke's sister stood rooted to the spot, shock written on her normally impassive face.

"Manami-chan!" cried Hikaru.

Manami, not knowing what to do, blushed and looked down at the floor. "I–I came to get something," she offered lamely.

Hikaru disentangled herself from Kyousuke's form and ran to the other girl. "Manami-chan." She bowed and held her head down. "Please don't tell Madoka-san. Please."

"I… Hikaru-chan…"

"I'm begging you," Hikaru repeated, desperation in her speech. "Please."

Manami managed to find her voice. "Hikaru-chan, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into…"

Hikaru straightened to look at her. Manami could see the despair and certainty mixed all together in her eyes. "I know, Manami-chan. I know all about sempai and your family."

Manami, receiving a second shock so soon, involuntarily stepped backward. "Know what?" she stammered. "I don't know what you're talking about, Hikaru."

"I know that's not your brother standing behind me. Please, Manami-chan. It's no use denying anything. I know your brother's an ESPer."

The elder Kasuga twin wasn't about to give up. "That's silly, Hikaru-chan. Whatever made you think that?"

"Because he told me," she said, jerking a thumb in Andrei's direction. "Please, Manami. I'm at your mercy."

Andrei, who had come to stand by Hikaru's side to share in the guilt, was about to say something when Hikaru covertly pinched his arm and shot him a warning glance.

Manami sighed. "I'm sorry, Hikaru. I'm going to have to tell Kyousuke-niichan and Madoka-san."

"No!" Hikaru grabbed her arm. "At least… at least say you won't be going away. That your family won't be disappearing on me."

"That's not up to me to decide."

"Please!" Hikaru clapped her hands together in a praying position and bowed low. "I'll do it! I'll tell them myself! I'll confess, if only you'll promise me you'll try to persuade sempai not to leave."

Manami thought about it. It was hard to refuse someone clearly so desperate. "Okay."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"Get up, Hikaru, don't bow to me." A sad, stern expression appeared on Manami's kind face. "This isn't over yet. Not by a long shot." She pushed past Hikaru and entered their room.

Andrei stood beside her. "Why are you taking the blame for this? You wouldn't even let me speak."

"It's my fault," she said, her voice quiet. "I… We shouldn't have gone that far. I should have stopped you. I was weak. Andrei, please let me handle this." Fear coursed through her. Was her friendship with Madoka about to become a thing of the past?

------oOo------

"You what?"

The angry shout came from Kyousuke himself, rising from his seat beside the door.

Manami had led the pair back to Andrei's room, feeling all the while like a jail guard conveying prisoners to an execution; more so when she, after they had arrived, closed the doors of the old man's room before Kyousuke and Andrei returned to their own bodies. When it was over, she let Hikaru in. Then the woman with the golden hair dropped her bomb on them.

"Please, sempai," Hikaru pleaded, still abasing herself, still bowing low on the floor. Manami knelt beside and slightly behind her. Although she sided with Madoka on the issue, she had decided to throw her support behind the distraught girl, all alone in this hour of need. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have. But I couldn't help it. I felt I wasn't making you unfaithful to Madoka-san." The older girl was silently sitting in a corner of the room. Everyone could feel the chill radiating from her direction.

"Forgive me." They barely heard the words.

Mastering his initial surge of anger, but still livid, Kyousuke said, "Hikaru. Get up, please."

His former girlfriend stopped bowing but refused to get off the floor.

Kyousuke stomped over and knelt in front of her on the carpet. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Do you know what you did?" he said. "You used me. You used my body to indulge yourself."

"Sempai…"

"Onii-chan," Manami protested. She had never seen her brother this angry before.

"Quiet! And now I find that I've become unfaithful to Madoka without even having to lift a finger!"

"Kasuga." The voice came from Andrei, once more an old man, sitting up in his bed. "I should be there with her if it weren't for this." He gestured at himself. "The blame should rest on me. If I didn't do what I had done… Please don't be so hard on her. What she did, she did out of love for you."

"Andrei!" Hikaru blurted out in protest before she could stop herself. "Don't."

The fierce expression never left Kyousuke's face. "Is this true, Hikaru?"

"I… Yes."

"Love, or lust?" he asked. "I think you're confusing the two."

"Both."

"Onii-chan! How can you be so heartless?"

Kyousuke sucked in a lungful of air and rubbed his forehead vigorously with his palm, as an exasperated man would. "Manami, please stay out of this."

"No I won't! Can't you see you're putting her in a lot of pain?"

Taken aback by his normally reserved sister's outburst, Kyousuke stayed silent.

After a while, he spoke. "Well," he said, "what are we going to do now? We can't just sweep this under the rug."

He stood up. "As the eldest member of the Clan," he said, "I have to assume responsibility for what happens. The way I see it, I have only two choices. The first is to move away… again. To somewhere where you, Hikaru, can't find us. But I don't know what to do with Madoka. Since she's not a member of the family yet, I don't think I can bring her with us."

"The second choice is to erase your memories of all of this. This will leave us pretty much the status quo, but at a great cost to you."

He sighed and spoke to the room at large. "So you see, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. If I take the first choice, not only will I lose Hikaru, but probably Madoka as well. The second choice… I don't even want to think about it."

He looked down at Hikaru, who understood for the first time the great price she was making everyone pay. She raised her head to look up at him.

"Sempai…" she said. "Erase my memories."

Kyousuke gazed into her blue eyes for a long while. "You're sure you want that?"

"Yes. That will be my punishment."

He sat down tiredly in front of her. She saw the unhappy look on his face. "Why did you do this, Hikaru? Now do you see what you're making me do?"

She nodded, ashamed of herself.

"I don't want to do this. I really don't. If there were some other way…" His voice, troubled, trailed off into silence.

"Sempai… may I at least say goodbye to Mr. Pagott?"

"Yeah. I'll give you a few minutes." So saying, they stood up and Kyousuke left the room, closely followed by Manami and a silent Madoka.

Hikaru watched him go. "I'm so sorry," she murmured. She sat down on Andrei's bed.

"A fine can of worms we've opened," he said as he felt her movement.

"Yes. They don't taste good."

He smiled at her lame attempt to joke. Then the smile disappeared. "Hikaru-chan, if it's any consolation, I'll still remember you."

She grasped the old man's hand. "Thank you, Andrei. I can call you Andrei now, can't I?"

"Yes. Hell, you can call me anything you want, and it'll be okay with me."

She hugged him, smelling Old Spice and the scent of age and infirmity, and whispered, "I guess this really is goodbye."

"Yeah. Too bad I have to look for another pilot now. I think you would've made a good one."

"Sorry I can't take you up on your offer. I would have, you know. I think it's a fine gift."

He reached out and she guided his hand to her cheek. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess."

"Don't be. It was worth it, my friend and lover. For a while."

They sat quietly until Kyousuke and the others returned.

Kyousuke stood in the middle of the room while the others returned to their places. "Are you ready, Hikaru Hiyama?"

She stood up and nodded.

"I'm ready."

Going before him, she asked, "What do I do?"

"Just… just stand there." Kyousuke was having trouble speaking. The words were glomming up in his throat.

"Will it hurt?" Hikaru asked.

"No. Actually, I've done this to you once before," he admitted.

"Really?" The question came from Madoka, who sat in a sway-backed chair near the corner where Andrei's walk-in closet protruded from the wall, hiding her face in the shadows. Thus far she had kept her silence throughout the whole proceeding.

Kyousuke turned to her. "Yes. When I had to ask for her help when we… I… thought you had been abducted by the ghost of your first boyfriend."

"You mean Shuujiro? I explained all of that to you already, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did. But when we were out looking for you I had to show Hikaru the Power. I took her with me and traveled through time, back to when you and she were still in junior high. Afterwards, I erased her memories of that incident."

He turned back to her. "And now, Hikaru, I have to do this again…"

"Sempai, before you make me forget, just so you know—and I want Madoka-san to hear this too—part of what I did was because… I still love you… even after so many years."

"Hikaru." The grief in Kyousuke's expression was palpable. "I love you too… but I can't love you the way you want me to."

"It's alright. I know that. As long as you're happy with Madoka-san, it's alright with me."

Kyousuke closed his eyes. His hands slowly moved towards her forehead.

"Stop it."

"Madoka?" His eyes popped open.

"I forbid you, Kyousuke."

The angry expression returned to his face. "Forbid me? You can't do that."

"Yes I can. There is a third alternative."

"What's that?"

"Leave everything as it is."

"What? That's not possible. I can't let this slide by."

"Yes you can. You're the eldest Clan member, so it's your call. No one here will second-guess you."

"No… You haven't been listening, have you, Madoka, to all those stories Ojii-chan told us about what happened to ESPers who revealed their powers to other people and didn't flee afterward?"

"Ancient history!" she shot back at him, her voice low and angry. "If you so much as touch one single cell in Hikaru's head, I'm… I'm not going to marry you."

Kyousuke heard gasps coming from Manami and Hikaru.

Andrei, listening from his bed, grinned.

Kyousuke was flustered. "Please, Ayukawa," he said. "Don't make me choose between my duty to my clan… and you."

"Hikaru is my friend. And she was yours, too. She still is. Choose, Kasuga-kun."

Caught like a deer in a car's headlights, he lowered his hands. It took a little while for him to find his voice. "Alright. You win."

Hikaru sagged with relief. Manami clapped her on the shoulder.

"Sempai…"

"Don't… talk to me just now, Hikaru-chan. I need to think." He went to the doors, flung them open, and showed himself out.

Madoka stood up from her seat and hobbled after him.

"Madoka-san," said Hikaru as she passed them.

The elder girl turned to her.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it, Hikaru."

"I was sure… I was sure you'd never speak to me again…"

"Part of me doesn't want to." Though Madoka kept her gaze averted, Hikaru could sense that she had not forgiven her completely. "But I find I'm not that mad at you, because I understand. I was his 'other woman' for a long time, you know that."

She pushed a strand of hair away from her face. "I am angry, however, at the way you deceived me. I told you before, when you said you still loved Kyousuke, that it was okay, didn't I?"

Hikaru nodded, remembering well that bright, sunny afternoon by the hotel rooftop pool back in 1994.

"I meant it." She gave her friend a brief smile.

"Thank you, Madoka!" Hikaru bowed, grateful that some part of her friendship with her childhood friend still survived.

"The only thing I'm worried about, though," she said, lowering her voice, "is why you entered into a relationship with my godfather, of all people."

"Why? He's a nice man."

"Hikaru." Madoka's voice was quiet but intense. "I don't know how long… he will live."

"I know that already, Madoka-san. But like I told him, we have the here and now, why worry about the future?"

Kyousuke's fiancé smiled. "I envy you. You're always so optimistic."

"Thanks to people like you, Madoka-san, I never lose faith."

Madoka smiled once more and left in search of Kyousuke.

Manami let out a sigh of relief. "Well, you escaped that one, Hikaru-chan."

Hikaru stared at the door which Madoka had passed through. "Yeah. I never want to see sempai that mad again." She turned to go to Andrei's side. Then, as she recalled something, she clapped her hands to the sides of her face and squealed. "Kyaa! I think I _do_ want him to erase a memory!"

"What's that?" asked a startled Manami.

"I told him… so embarrassing! I told him I still love him!" She blushed a bright red.

"Kyaa!" Manami echoed.

------oOo------

Madoka found him in the gazebo, leaning with his hands on the low stone wall, staring out to sea.

"Kyousuke."

He didn't reply.

"Kyousuke." She laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What?"

"I'm sorry I did that. I didn't want you to harm her."

"You're not going to be as sorry as I am when we get back home and Ojii-chan hears about this. He'll probably chop me up into little pieces. _Then_ murder me and throw me to the wolves."

"I'll do what I can to help."

"No, I don't want you going anywhere near him. When he gets mad… he gets really mad." The sea breeze blew at his fine black hair. "Madoka?"

"Yes?"

"Would you have done it? Not married me, for her sake?"

She lowered her gaze. "I… I don't say things I don't mean, Kyousuke. Try to understand. She's dear to me."

"And I'm not?" She could hear the hurt in his voice.

"Of course you are. I wouldn't marry a man I didn't love." She rested her head on his shoulder. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

"Afraid? Of what?"

"That because she knows all about you now, you won't have anything to use against her should the need arise."

Slowly, reluctantly, he nodded his head. "One of these days, Madoka, I might prove weak…"

"I don't think it'll ever come to that. I wouldn't blame you even if it did." She tugged his sleeve to get him to look at her. "She had part of you, for a while. As long as I have all of you, for eternity… then it doesn't matter much."

"My angel," he said quietly, planting a kiss in her hair. "I'll always hope I prove worthy of you." Turning towards her, he grasped her by the shoulders and kissed her.

------oOo------

Mr. and Mrs. Ayukawa caught sight of them as they strolled past the open white gate. Nudging his wife, Madoka's father gestured in the pair's direction.

"I'm getting jealous of them," he said.

"What, you're getting jealous of your own daughter?"

"No, I mean they just remind me... we used to be young ourselves."

"Maestro, at least we don't have to go through all the troubles they still have to pass through."

"Yes, I suppose so." He wound his arm around her waist and they walked on.

------oOo------

Back at the hotel there was a knock on Andrei's door.

"Come in." He was alone, Hikaru having gone with Manami for a drink or two.

"Hello, sir. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, just fine, Cardiff."

Andrei held up a hand. "It's a good thing you're here. I'd just like to go over the arrangements one more time."

"Sir."

Andrei sighed. "Sorry if I'm boring you with all this, my comrade. I'm just worried about how things will turn out, when I'm gone."

"You have my word, sir, that I'll uphold my end of the bargain. And I believe that…"

"That goes for me too," came a voice at the door.

The lean, wiry, brown-haired figure of the ex-USN Captain Scolliani entered the room, dressed in a sport suit and windbreaker. He had evidently been exercising, as the sweat stains on his shirt proclaimed.

"If you two are going to discuss secrets I suggest you close the door first. I could hear you from just outside."

Cardiff looked chagrined. "Of course. My error."

Scolliani looked down at Andrei. "Sir, all I've got to say to you is that I believe in your plan, and am willing to push through with it. That goes for the whole boat crew as well, every last one of them, even Magain and Aleksei." The Belgian, the son of the man who had tried to shoot Andrei down that day in 1969; the Russian, a former Spetsnaz squad leader: the most terrible wolves of his hand-picked crew.

"Yes, that's how I feel myself, sir," agreed Cardiff. "Although I'm not going to be the one to do the fighting, there'll be the Adriano to look after…"

Andrei nodded, smiling slightly. "Thank you. I would have you know I believe I picked the right men for this matter."

A hand went to his temples as a brief twinge of pain coursed through his head. "Say, Cardiff, what have you done with my plane?"

"Well, Karl is going to fly it back into storage tomorrow."

"Wait, I have other plans for it." He told them, and his butler was amazed.

"Why, sir, if I may ask?"

"Nothing much, really. Call it an old man's whim."

The two men silently looked at each other.

"An old man's whim, eh?" repeated Captain Scolliani.

"Yeah," returned Andrei. He sighed and smiled.

"She's really pretty, don't you guys think?"

Andrei heard a snort as Cardiff rolled his eyes to the ceiling and the captain smacked the palm of his right hand to his forehead. Both groaned.

"I knew it, it was the girl again," Captain Scolliani muttered.

"Sir, if I may remind you your penchant for members of the opposite sex caused you all that trouble long ago with your wife."

"Maria." Andrei smiled a half-sad smile. "Yes, and I'm still paying for it, even now!" He settled back in his pillows and laughed out loud.

------oOo------

The group spent three more days at the Adriano. For Kyousuke, Madoka and even Hikaru and Manami, it was a chance to really relax. They would spend the late evenings in the old man's room, listening to him tell stories about his past life. In return they told quite a few of their own. He would smile at them as he heard them tell their tales.

"Why, Kyousuke, I never knew you were such a hand with the ladies."

Madoka sniffed. "Hmph. Sometimes I wish he did have hands for the ladies, just so that I'd know what he was thinking."

"Hey, hey, Ayukawa…"

"You took so long to decide which of us you wanted," Madoka scolded him. "And hurt both of us very badly."

"Yeah, that's right," agreed Hikaru.

"But… hey, I'm sorry—what do you want me to do?" Kyousuke squirmed in his seat.

They looked sternly at him. For one, at least, part of the hurt was still real, but not so real anymore as to prevent her from joking about it.

Then they laughed together.

"What?" Kyousuke exclaimed as he realized he had been tricked. "Why, you two—"

The women shrieked like little girls and fairly ran out of the room. Manami laughed as her brother scuttled round the corner and chased after them.

Hikaru gave up quickly after a short run down the path. "I surrender," she giggled, standing before him.

There was a short, awkward silence as they faced each other. "Sempai… I hope you can forgive me."

Much to her surprise, his expression softened.

"You don't need to worry about that, Hikaru-chan. I've already forgiven you."

He strode forward and took her in his arms. Her eyes grew wide with surprise; then she closed them, aware it was the real Kyousuke who held her now.

"Kyousuke…" she allowed herself to say, feeling the beating of his heart beneath the hand she placed on his chest.

"But please keep quiet about this, okay?"

She nodded. "I will," she murmured. "I don't want you to vanish on me. Ever."

They stood still for a moment, savoring each other's company. "Hey, Hikaru?"

"Yes?"

"Was I any good?"

She stood back and blushed furiously. "Sempai! Of all the things to ask!" Taking two quick steps forward, she raised herself on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. "Watch out, or I'm won't be able to resist you one of these days." Then, giving him a friendly little bite on the side of the neck, she ran back to Andrei's room.

Watching her run away, Kyousuke felt flattered and worried at the same time. He rubbed his neck and was immensely thankful things had turned out the way they did.

"Kyousuke."

He turned to see Madoka in her dark violet silk dress, standing there on the path, looking at him, arms on her hips.

"Did I just see her kiss you?"

Kyousuke looked back at her with guiltless eyes. "She didn't. She just whispered something in my ear."

She walked up to him. "That's fine, then." Linking her arm around his, she turned him towards the lobby. "Come on, my parents are waiting for us."

As they walked, she asked, "What did she tell you?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a joke."

"What was it?"

"I… it's nothing, Madoka."

"Then why won't you tell me? And hey, what's that on your neck?"

------oOo------

The very next day almost everyone suddenly seemed very busy.

"What's going on?" Hikaru asked Manami. They were both busy packing their things. "I haven't seen Madoka-san nor Kyousuke-sempai the whole day."

"I think they're planning something for tomorrow night."

"Yeah, Andrei said something about that." She turned thoughtful. "Even he seemed preoccupied."

"Hikaru-chan? What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"What's it like, falling for someone who turned out to be someone else—and much older than you?"

Hikaru pondered. "It feels fine, Manami-chan," she answered lamely, not having the words—or the will—to describe it. The color on her cheeks gave her away, though.

"I wonder what onii-chan and the others are up to," said Kasuga's sister. "Oh, well, we'll find out tomorrow night."

------oOo------

And find out they did. That night they were back in the Adriano dining room, at a table set for seven—but only they were there, along with Andrei Pagott. He was attired in a cream-colored business suit, while the girls wore evening gowns, a sleeveless white one for Hikaru, and a daring strapless wine-colored number with matching bolero jacket for Manami. Hikaru held the yellow straw hat with red trim on her lap, as they had been taking pictures earlier with everyone else in the afternoon sun. That was the last they had seen of them.

"Where are they?" Hikaru asked Andrei, touching his arm.

He took her hand in his but whispered "Shhh, the show's about to start."

A coterie of musicians filed onto the stage. They were not the usual Adriano house band; they had been hired especially for this occasion.

A waiter served them as the lights dimmed and the group began to play. After a few numbers, they had yet to see Madoka and the others.

Manami motioned the waiter for second helpings. "I'm getting impatient," she said.

After the last piece had ended, the same perky brunette who had emceed Madoka's previous performance hopped onstage. She was dressed in a velvety black gown.

"Good evening. Now we bring to you a performance by a special group of guests, who have been practicing very hard for this night. Will you please join me in welcoming to the stage Maestro Seiji Ayukawa of the Seattle International Philharmonic, his wife Yoshiko, their daughter Madoka…"

The trio emerged from the darkness in the wings and walked onstage. They were dressed to the nines, elegant but somehow seeming businesslike as they walked to their places.

"…and her fiancé Kyousuke Kasuga, who will play for us tonight a set of three pieces."

"Sempai will play?" asked Hikaru as she clapped, watching as Kyousuke lifted a guitar from its stand and sat down, balancing the instrument on his knee.

The first piece was a jazz number made famous by the Arakawaband long ago. Mr. Ayukawa was content with conducting the group, backed up by the hired musicians. Jazz was not really his forte.

There was polite applause as the piece ended. The brunette went back onstage and announced that the next musical number would be one composed by Nino Rota, the famous Italian child prodigy and composer. Mr. Ayukawa had arranged it, and the Japanese title, as Madoka expected, was unfamiliar to the audience.

Maestro Ayukawa removed himself to a corner of the stage, where a stool awaited him and a cello. Yoshiko, meanwhile, had taken her precious violin out of its case and was testing it. There was to be no singing for her this night, it seemed.

Kyousuke, sitting there holding the guitar, gulped nervously. He was to play a prominent part in the upcoming piece's rhythm. Any mistake would be heard—and felt—immediately by the audience, not to mention by his fellow musicians. He looked at Madoka, sitting behind the baby grand, adjusting the Korg synthesizer sitting at right angles to her on her left. As if she had read his mind, she stopped her work and gave him a thumbs-up sign, blowing him a kiss as well.

Mr. Ayukawa cued them. "One, two, three…"

As they began to play the fast number, Kyousuke found his tension evaporating as he concentrated on his playing. Yoshiko stood up as her violin carried the rhythm with Kyousuke; Madoka's piano alternated between punctuating passages and helping move the rhythm along. The melody was played by the other musicians, who had traded their other instruments for mandolins and bandurias, 12-stringed guitars with an especially jangly sound.

The audience murmured as they played. Evidently they recognized the piece, even if the title was unknown to them. Some began to clap in time with Kyousuke. One or two patrons even started to sway in their chairs.

"Sounds like you could tango to it," remarked Manami to Hikaru. "Go onii-chan!"

"Go sempai!" yelled Hikaru.

When they were finally let down off their music-induced high as the tune ended, everyone cheered and clapped vigorously.

When the applause had died down, Madoka spoke into the microphone. "This last song will be sung by none other than our emcee herself, Emiko Mochizuki." During practice, she had made friends with the brunette and learned that she was in fact half-Japanese.

The emcee shyly walked onstage and took the microphone from Madoka's hand.

There was feedback as she adjusted it. "Wish me luck," she nervously commented. Scattered laughter sounded in the dining room.

It was a piano-only song. "Mochizuki-san?" Madoka cued her. After a few bars for the intro, the brunette in the velvety black gown—now assuming a serious air—began to sing.

_I met my love, one eternal summer  
__While chasing my hat, on the top of the stairs  
__I met my true love, that eternal summer  
__A summer that seemed like a dream  
__A dream that came to life_

_Long will I remember, that forever summer  
__The wind through the leaves, the blue of the sky  
__It will live in my heart, that eternal day  
__When I first saw him, when he first smiled  
__The world seemed so bright_

Kyousuke looked Madoka's way, quietly raising an eyebrow. She responded by giving him a quick, embarrassed smile. He bowed his head and continued to listen.

_I keep it in my heart, that eternal summer  
__When I met him, I lost my heart  
__I still recall, how he looked that day  
__My hat in his hands, the wind in his hair  
__And a laugh in his eyes_

_I will never forget, that eternal summer  
__Before the leaves turned brown, and were swept away  
__I will always be with him, in that eternal day  
__I will never forget, though I grow old and gray  
__I remember it well, that blessed day_

Hikaru found her eyes misting over as she looked down at the yellow straw hat in her lap, remembering another straw hat long ago, red in color, that had given away Madoka's relationship with Kyousuke. Manami had told her then what her brother had said about it, causing the triangle to start unraveling: "I fell in love with her, but I didn't even know her name." She knew it was Madoka's hat.

_I will bring with me, that forever summer  
__Wherever I may be, whatever may happen  
__I will always hear, what that summer did say  
__I found my one true love, in that eternal day._

------oOo------

"Here, here, take a picture of it before we go!"

It was early next morning, and Madoka had dragged Kyousuke through the garden to just outside Andrei Pagott's room. They had spent the night baring their souls and making tender love to each other, their hearts full of emotion from the revelation of Madoka's song. At long last, Kyousuke knew one reason why his beloved cried sometimes when they made love.

"What? Where?" He picked up his camera.

"It's gone? I swear it was here yesterday." She was looking at a vine-like growth on the garden wall.

"There aren't any flowers there," said Kyousuke. "Here's some nice ones…"

"Good morning!" called a voice, and Andrei Pagott emerged from his room, trailed by his imperturbable butler.

"Uncle, where did the flowers here go?"

"Oh, you mean the big yellow ones on the wall?"

"That's right. You know where they are?"

Andrei smiled. "I had them removed."

"You what?"

The old man made a gesture. Cardiff stepped forward, bearing something in his hands.

"I had them removed to make corsages for you… and for Hikaru. For you to notice them… your taste is impeccable, Madoka."

"What do you mean?"

"In all the whole wide world, there are only two places this plant exists. One is on a hillside near a ruined castle some miles from here. The other is in this garden."

Madoka took it from Cardiff. In the bright sunlight the blooms seemed blinding.

"It's beautiful," she said. Kyousuke pinned it on the lapel of her dark blue blouse.

"Thank you, Godfather." She held his hand. "We also came to say goodbye."

"Well, goodbye, then. I'm happy to have met you, Kasuga-san." Andrei gestured for Kyousuke's hand, which he laid on Madoka's. "Take care of her. I don't want all of my pains over the two of you wasted."

"Yes sir," said Kyousuke, smiling a smile tinged with sadness.

"Hikaru!" Andrei called.

A figure wearing a royal-blue minidress emerged from the room. She was pale, quiet and composed, wearing a corsage identical to Madoka's. A yellow straw hat was on her head.

She walked up to Andrei. "My dear," he said as he sensed her beside him, "it's time for you to leave."

"Madoka-san. Sempai." She bowed to them.

"Hikaru. We're going. Are you coming with us?"

She nodded. "Yes." Turning, she touched Andrei on the shoulder.

"Well…" she said, "goodbye, Andrei."

"Goodbye. Don't forget your promise to me. And take care of Era and Atlas here."

She smiled. "I won't forget." She leaned down and gave him a heartbreakingly chaste kiss on the cheek, whispering something in his ear. He, in return, pressed the back of her hand to his lips. When he let go, she turned and nodded to Madoka and Kyousuke.

As one, the trio stepped out into the harsh Adriatic sunlight and walked away.

------oOo------

Andrei sat there for long minutes, unmoving. Still he heard her voice, whispering in his ear words he had hoped he'd never hear her say.

_Our summer love is over. But that doesn't mean my feelings for you have ended as well._

His old heart pitied her. Long they had talked about it, but it seemed her decision was made, and her fate set. His old heart pitied, pitied her.

"Well, she's gone," he finally spoke. He felt something pressed into his hand and sniffed. "Ah! Medicinal-type brandy?"

"Yes sir. Thought you might need it."

He took an appreciative sip. "If it's not so much trouble, old friend, could you bring me to the veranda?"

As he sat there listening to the sound of the waves and the cries of the gulls, waiting for the sound of the horn that would signal the ferryboat was underway, Andrei thought of all he had done and commented to himself that it was a life well-lived. As he thought, part of a song came to his mind. It was in his mother's voice; the same song Yoshiko had sung that night on the stage.

J'aimerai toujours le temps des cerises,  
c'est de ce temps-la que je garde au coeur une plaie ouverte,  
et Dame fortune en m'etant offerte  
ne pourra jamais calmer ma douleur.  
J'aimerai toujours le temps des cerises,  
et le souvenir que je garde au coeur.

_I will always love the time of cherries,  
__it's from those times that I hold in my heart an open wound,  
__and the offerings of lady luck  
__can never soothe my suffering.  
__I will always love the time of cherries,  
__and the memory I hold in my heart._


	8. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

Some months later, the letter caught up with Hikaru Hiyama. She was in Tokyo, at an apartment she had rented, having just arrived home from a long, hard day's work. She had just been daydreaming about the quaint little hotel in the Adriatic when she noticed the missive in her mailbox. Noting the postmark, she felt a little chill run down her spine and quickly rushed upstairs, at once dreading and anticipating its contents.

Sitting down on the sofa in her small living room, she carefully slit it open with a letter opener. She drew out a little slip of stationery, neatly folded, and read it. It was brief and straight to the point. Underneath the typewritten message there was something handwritten, from the butler Cardiff.

The paper slid from nerveless fingers. Hikaru covered her face with her hands and began to moan.

------oOo------

The phone rang.

"Hello? Kasuga residence."

"Madoka?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Madoka-san?" She heard a sob escape the feminine caller.

"Hikaru? Is that you? Are you okay?"

"Hi… Is it alright if I come over?"

"Uh, sure. But why are you crying?"

A brief pause answered her. "I… I think I'm going to need some company tonight."

"Hold on." She looked at the wall clock. "I'll go to your place."

"No, it's okay, I'll come over."

"Don't be silly. Wait for me. I'll be there in an hour."

Another muffled sob. "Alright."

"Who was it?" Kyousuke's father, peering at some photos through a magnifying lens, asked.

"Hikaru, Father." Madoka went to Kyousuke's room and knocked on the door.

"Yup?"

"Hikaru just called. She sounded pretty upset."

"You think…"

She nodded. "I'm going to her place."

"Wait. I'll just get dressed."

"_Anata_, I don't think she'll be good company tonight."

"Tough. I'm coming anyway."

It was a long, tiresome ride through the traffic-filled Tokyo streets. Madoka impatiently honked her red Mini's horn at the other drivers and began to wish she and Kyousuke could fly.

"You want me to do anything?" said Kyousuke, sitting in the seat beside her, getting impatient himself.

"Can you?"

"Get into that side street," he ordered. When she had done so—to the accompaniment of yells from other drivers as she rudely cut across lanes—he told her to move the little car into a shadowy part of the road.

"Stop." She watched as Kyousuke's brows came together. "Hold on."

The world disappeared in a wavering shimmer.

------oOo------

"Madoka! Sempai!" the girl exclaimed after she had opened the door. "You said an hour…" She looked back inside her living room. "It's a mess," she said, moving aside so they could enter.

As they removed their shoes and put on guest slippers, the only mess Madoka could see was Hikaru's handbag on the low glass table and an envelope on the floor. She went and picked it up.

"Hikaru…" Madoka looked at her with eyes full of sympathy.

She burst into tears.

Madoka stepped forward and hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"You were right," Star-chan whispered, "when you asked why I went and fell for him. Oh, it hurts so much! So much!"

"Here, sit down," said Kyousuke. "I'll get you something." He disappeared into her kitchen.

Madoka kept her in an embrace as she cried. "May I see the letter?"

"I threw it in the wastebasket."

Leaning forward, Madoka retrieved the wadded ball from the container by the table and smoothened it out, reading as she did so.

"Look," she said, "there's a note from Cardiff. Why don't you call him?"

Hikaru, instead, kept on crying.

"Oh, Hikaru." Madoka hugged her again and rubbed the other girl's back.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," said Hikaru, trying to stop, taking deep breaths.

"Shush. Let it out."

After some minutes, Kyousuke returned bearing a tray with two cups of tea. "Here. Maybe this will help."

Madoka took one for herself and gave the other to Hikaru. "Come on, drink this."

In between wheezing breaths, her young friend complied.

"I'm sorry," she said, steadying the cup in her shaking hands. "I'm such a bother."

"No, that's okay," Kyousuke said, trying to cheer her up. "It was boring in the house anyway."

Madoka flashed him an angry look. "What he means is, we'd rather be with you."

"Thank you," said a grateful Hikaru, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Sempai, thanks." She sipped some more of the tea.

Madoka and Kyousuke looked at her expectantly.

"What am I going to do now?" She looked like a little lost girl. "I just want to curl up somewhere and die."

"I suggest you call that number," said Kyousuke, wanting to make up for his earlier faux pas.

Hikaru quailed. "I… can't just yet."

"Want me to call for you?" He looked at the letter. "It did say anytime."

"Would you?" Hikaru said. "No, I'd better do it myself."

"It's no problem." He picked up the phone and began dialing. After a minute or two, he began talking.

"You should get a hold of yourself, Hikaru," said Madoka. "I know it hurts, but crying won't solve anything."

Hikaru nodded slowly.

They heard Kyousuke say, "No, I'm afraid she can't come to the phone just now."

She waved at him, gesturing for the receiver. He gave it to her.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Miss Hiyama? Cardiff here. I'm sure you remember me."

"Yes, of course."

"If you're free the day after tomorrow, I'd like you to go on a trip."

"Where?"

"Nowhere very far. Andrei… Mr. Pagott left something for you."

"I'm free then."

"Very well, then. Shall I have you picked up, say, 7 AM?"

"Sure." Hikaru got her handbag and quickly scribbled down some details in a little blue notebook.

"On Sunday, then."

"Wait… Cardiff-san."

"Yes?"

"How did he die?"

"He… His heart just stopped, while he was surrounded by friends and family."

"Why didn't he… why didn't he at least call me, tell me goodbye, tell me to come back?" It was selfish, she knew; but she could not help it.

"He said he didn't want to burden you. One of the last things he spoke in farewell was your name… with love, I might add."

"… Thank you, Cardiff. I'll be waiting." She gave the receiver back to Kyousuke, who replaced it.

She sighed. "I'm never going to get over this," she mumbled. With her distraught eyes full on her sempai, she asked, "Why am I so unlucky in love?"

Madoka placed a hand on the small of her back. "If it's any consolation, Hikaru, you've still got us by your side."

"Yeah." She sniffled. "I guess that's true."

She stood up. "Thanks for coming, Madoka-san. I'm sorry I bothered you. I couldn't stand being alone. If you want to sleep over…"

"I'd love to, Hikaru, but what about Kyousuke?"

"Oh, no problem. I've got a futon I can use."

"What? And get blamed for making you sleep on the floor? Uh-uh." He pointed. "I can stay on the sofa, if you don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Hikaru asked.

He nodded. "I got by on far less in Europe."

"Okay, I'll just get some pillows and blankets." She bustled off to her bedroom.

------oOo------

The new manager of the Hotel Adriano closed his eyes against the bright afternoon sunlight streaming in from his office windows. For a moment in his mind's eye he saw the old red seaplane sailing off into the sunset, to scatter Andrei's ashes over the sea. It was Andrei's father Marco's plane, hidden in a cave below the hotel, resurrected for one last flight.

He remembered doffing his cap as it passed by, and the crewmembers around him, on the _Dove,_ doing the same. Even that crazy young American pilot Andrei had hired was silent and solemn before that flight.

He was thinking how their work would continue, even with the old man gone.

------oOo------

Later that night, Kyousuke tossed and turned in his sleeping place. It wasn't because the sofa was uncomfortable; the sound of the two girls twittering away in the nearby bedroom was what was keeping him awake. Grumbling, he stood and made his way to Hikaru's bedroom door.

"Yes?" came her voice.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

He opened the door. The two girls were sitting up in the queen-size bed, both in pajamas, an orange silk one for Hikaru, and a cotton one for Madoka, with vertical violet and white stripes. Both were half-under the covers, but the animated look in their eyes signaled no sleepiness on their part.

"I hate to disturb you, but why aren't you asleep yet? Don't you know what time it is already?" Kyousuke sat down beside Madoka.

"Sorry, _oyaji_." Hikaru, looking much better than before, smiled at him.

"What are you two talking about anyway?"

"Can't tell you. Girls' secrets," replied Madoka. Hikaru laughed.

"Well, if you're going to gang up on me like that…" said Kyousuke, standing up.

"Just kidding. We were talking about my work," said Madoka. "If I should release it or not."

"And I told her it would be a waste if she didn't," added Hikaru. "They sound good, her songs, don't they, sempai?"

Kyousuke nodded. "I have to agree with Hikaru. Why don't you want to release them?"

"But… they're so personal to me," Madoka objected.

"Ah, you're never going to make any money in the music business if you keep feeling like that. Besides, don't you want to share them with other people?"

"I know that, Kyousuke." She contemplated. "It's just that these are different. Private."

"Sempai… you sounded just like Andrei that time," said Hikaru, a sad, wistful smile on her face. "Always practical, always on the lookout for opportunities."

"I did?"

"Yeah. And since he looked exactly like you… I thought for a moment…"

"Hikaru…" Kyousuke gulped nervously, afraid she was going to cry again.

"Oh, okay…" Madoka interrupted, breaking the silence. "Since you convinced me, I'm going to release them," she decided.

"And be sure to autograph my copy," said Hikaru.

"I won't need one," Kyousuke announced smugly, "since the composer herself will play them for me every day…"

"Hey, what do you think I am, your own personal music box?"

"Just kidding, Madoka."

A question popped into Hikaru's mind. "What are you going to call your album, Madoka-san?"

"Hmm. I haven't thought of anything yet."

"Since you're always working on them in your Powerbook," suggested Kyousuke, "why don't you call it _Madoka's Piano Files_?"

"Yeah," agreed Hikaru. "That sounds right."

Madoka looked from one to the other. "You think so?"

Both nodded. "Alright, _Madoka's Piano Files_ it will be."

"But sweetheart?"

"What?"

"If it's okay with you, don't include that song you had Mochizuki-san sing."

"Why not, sempai?" Hikaru asked.

Kyousuke shrugged. "I don't want Mister Idol Singer Mitsuru Hayakawa to get his paws on that one." He looked lovingly at his fiancé. "I want it to be something just between us." He shifted his gaze to Hikaru as Madoka's cheeks turned red. "The summer when I met the two of you, and had my life forever changed…"

"Sempai…"

"Kyousuke…"

------oOo------

Sunday morning came. A tall Caucasian stranger, body bulking underneath an ill-fitting gray suit, appeared at the door of the apartment. He was asking for "Miss Hikaroo Heeyamah."

"I'm the person Cariff sent. My name's Karl."

"Karl?"

"Yes." He smiled, and Hikaru found the smile smooth and his gray eyes a bit chilly. "Let's leave it at that, Miss Hiyama. I'm here to escort you to Tanigawa."

So Hikaru set off for Tanigawa Field in the company of this man and another, shorter man, obviously Hispanic in nature. The shorter man, whose name, she learned, was Sandoval—he politely declined to give any other name—was more gregarious and put her more at ease than Karl, who was content to sit silently and drive, never keeping his eyes off the road.

Hikaru was curious. "Why the single names, guys?" she asked in English.

"Eh? Sorry, we were told to keep all quiet and mysterious-like. Since you want to know, I'm Pedro Sandoval—and this noisy man here is Karl Green."

"Who told you to be mysterious?"

"Mr. Pagott did, when he gave us our instructions."

Karl managed a brief glance back. "And I disliked them, I'll tell you."

"Why?"

"You'll see, when we get to the field."

------oOo------

What was supposed to be a two-hour drive stretched out into four. Many arguments, near-collisions, and wrong turns later, they arrived at a quiet little airfield, with a single gray runway sitting under the louring sky. Karl parked the Cherokee outside one of the four hangars lining the runway apron and honked the horn.

A woman wearing a set of grease-stained light blue overalls emerged from a side door. She waved to them with the clipboard she held in her hand.

"Hello, Fiona. Looks like you've been busy," said Sandoval.

The girl with the curly shoulder-length auburn hair and bright brown eyes behind the spectacles nodded. "No, I'm through. I was just cleaning up inside."

"Hmm. And you were getting all the dirt on you," said Karl. "What a gal."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Very funny." She smiled at Hikaru.

"You are Miss Hikaru Hiyama?"

"Yes."

Fiona bowed. "I may not look it, but I represent the Piccolo Aircraft Corporation. As such, I am part executor of Mr. Pagott's will." She pulled off her grimy work gloves and handed Hikaru her clipboard. "I've filled out all the necessary paperwork and permits. All you need to do is sign…"

Hikaru shook her head. "What? Wait, wait, you're talking too fast for me to understand…"

Fiona saw the look of confusion on her face. "Well, I'll make it clearer than words can. Follow me."

She led Hikaru inside the hangar. As Hikaru's eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting, she saw a plane standing in the middle, gleaming. It looked familiar.

Hikaru looked at the other girl. "What's Andrei's plane doing here?"

Fiona shook her head. "Must we spell it out for you? Andrei left you his plane. It's yours now."

"If you want it," Karl added darkly.

Hikaru stood rooted to one spot. "It can't be," she said weakly. "I don't know what to say…"

"Hey, don't thank us," said Sandoval, enjoying her speechlessness. "We just deliver the mail."

"Although Pedro here wouldn't mind a hug, Miss Hiyama," Karl muttered. Sandoval shot his companion a dirty look.

"You flyboys think you know everything," he fired back. "With you handling it, it's a wonder Marco's plane didn't break apart and fall into the sea."

"Shush, you two!" Fiona hissed. When the two refused to quiet down, she walked up to them and trod soundly on their feet. That got them to shut up.

"Miss Hiyama, everything's all arranged."

"But how—"

"Don't worry. When Andrei said he'd arrange everything, he did. Piccolo owns this airfield, so fees for you are zero." She smiled. "And you can have this person—" her free left hand shot out and yanked Karl to her side—"as your very own instructor pilot."

Karl grumbled something inaudible. Fiona looked up at him and trod on his foot again.

"Hey! Okay, Miss Hiyama, I'll be taking you through your lessons for the next couple of months. Either me or a Belgian guy named Magain."

Fiona smiled sweetly at him. "You must excuse his grouchy behavior. He's not that antisocial, all that he wants to really do is fly. He gets nervous around pretty young ladies, that's all."

"Hey Fiona," warned Karl, "mind your tongue!"

Hikaru laughed, then bowed low. "Thank you for everything," said she. She looked soberly at the aircraft. "I wish I could thank Andrei for this."

Fiona smiled. "My uncle spoke fondly of you." She handed her the clipboard. "Now, if you can sign a couple of papers, we can legally transfer ownership of this plane to you." While Hikaru went over the documents, she asked, "How are we going to schedule meetings?"

"Well, let's figure something out," said Karl. Now that they were talking about flying, some of his grumpiness disappeared. "Miss Hiyama, you are going to have to tell us when you're available so we can be prepared."

"Yes. I'll take care of it." She walked over to the plane and asked, "Are you staying here in Japan?"

Karl nodded. "Yeah, I'll be mostly around this place. I'll give you a number where you can call me."

"Okay. When can we start?"

"How about today?"

Sandoval glanced sideways at his companion. "You sure as hell don't wanna waste time, don't you?"

Karl looked at him. "The sooner I start the sooner I finish. I didn't sign up to nursemaid a nugget civilian for the next couple of weeks…"

"But you're a frapping silly-villian yourself, you dunderhead…"

Hikaru looked at Karl, and remembered what Andrei had said about his finding an 'heir' to his family's flying traditions. _I've found one but he's too military for my taste…_

"Karl." Fiona's eyes flashed. "Be nice to the girl."

"Sorry, Miss Hiyama." Karl approached her and, to her surprise, bowed. "It's just that I never… well, that is…"

"He doesn't like cute girls because they distract him and make him look foolish," Sandoval finished helpfully. "And being uncool is a fighter pilot's Kryptonite."

Karl rumbled something that sounded vaguely threatening.

"Oh, don't worry about that from me," chirped Hikaru. "I'm not too particular about 'cool' and 'uncool' things. I'll be the soul of discretion. Promise."

Sandoval appeared amused at his friend's predicament. "Hey Fiona," he said, "let's leave these two alone to start class, shall we?"

"Okay, I sure need to clean up. See you later, Karl…" They filed out the door.

Karl watched his friends go. _Someday I'm going to get you for that,_ he thought. _Mark my words._ _Hell, even Karl Green is an ugly-sounding name. _Hikaru thought he looked funny, looking so big and menacing but fidgety and clearly nervous. All because of cute little her.

"Okay," said Karl, his tone unsure. "Let's begin with Level Flight…"

Just outside the hangar door, a pipit trilled and flew away.

**THE END**

_The music has ended, and now there will be silence.  
__In waking life a person can never be anyone else, but in dreams it is otherwise.__  
The dream will continue._


End file.
